White: McLaren ECU advantage only brief

But although he expects McLaren to enjoy an "easier transition" to the very different new system, White is confident that the rest of the field will rapidly get to grips with the ECU.

"The software inside is different, all the tools the engineers use in the garage and the factory are different. It's taken a lot of work in order to be ready to come to the track," White said at Red Bull's 2008 launch.

"It will take more work to learn about it during the course of the next few weeks. Of course a lot of that work is just learning about the new environment.

"What is clear is that teams that start further away have got to do lots more learning to be ready for 2008. And that learning about all the environment associated with the new electronics is something that McLaren won't have to do. So they have an easier transition in terms of workload, that's clear.

"It's clear that McLaren will have an advantage in terms of understanding of the control systems, but for a little while."

Team boss Christian Horner added that Renault had already made good progress with the ECU.

"I think initially obviously McLaren should have an advantage because it's a system that they've potentially grown up with," he said.

"But our engine partner Renault are getting on top of the issues quite quickly. They've made very good progress during the Christmas break."

White said that the removal of the driver aids and the change to the common ECU had been a challenge, but emphasised that the teams had been accustomed to working with fewer electronics when they were outlawed from 1994 to early 2001.

"It's worth reminding people that we are rediscovering," he said.

"It wasn't that long ago that we had a period in which for example traction control was not permitted... so to some extent is familiar ground. Again, it's work, it's challenging work, it's interesting work.

"Drivers have different opinions, but there seems to be a consensus that the loss of traction control is noticeable but it's not the biggest issue.

"The lack of engine braking is the thing is the most disliked or the most noticed by the drivers, but again, it's something we've known about, that we've been preparing for. It's part of the work plan for pre-season testing."