Hamilton car refit cost $7m

(GMM) McLaren achieved the most expensive tenth-and-a-half improvement in the British team's long history, by working meticulously on Lewis Hamilton's car between the Chinese and Brazilian grands prix, according to Ron Dennis.

After Hamilton qualified fourth for the decisive round of the 2008 championship that, the team's boss revealed that technicians at Woking had been tasked after Shanghai two weeks ago with checking and servicing every single component of the 23-year-old's MP4-23 racer.

At 3000 individual parts, the week-long task would have cost McLaren about $7m, the Daily Mirror newspaper said.

"It's the most expensive 0.15 of a second in our history. We have checked every single part and even eliminated the infant mortality of new parts," Dennis said.

He then questioned the wisdom of Ferrari's seemingly "aggressive" fuel strategy for the last qualifying session of 2008 in Brazil, but some wondered if a strategy stranding Hamilton on the back of the second row, and among notable enemies like Fernando Alonso, is wise.

"I do not believe Lewis Hamilton will make it past the first corner of the race," former triple world champion and Brazilian Nelson Piquet told Globoesporte.

"There are many drivers in the field who do not like him," the father of the Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr added.