REVEALED: Most - and least - reliable teams of 2010

Research has revealed which have been the most - and least - reliable teams in the F1 2010 World Championship, and the results may surprise.

Having failed to complete a mere three of the 1,474 laps thus far - falling short when Fernando Alonso's engine let go almost within sight of the chequered flag in the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang back in April - Ferrari receives the award for the most reliable of the twelve competitors, though the fact that Felipe Massa is the only driver in the field to have finished every race and yet still sits a distant sixth in the title standings is something of an indictment of the Brazilian's disappointing campaign to-date.

Perhaps unexpectedly given its well-documented early-season reliability woes that at one stage looked like derailing its challenge right from the start, next up are championship leaders Red Bull Racing, concluded the analysis by German publication Auto Motor und Sport. The 101 laps that Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel have neglected to cover can be attributed to two accidents - and both high-profile and spectacular ones at that, in Istanbul and Valencia - and a wheel-nut failure for the German in Melbourne.

"Inevitably when you push the boundaries there are a few issues, and unfortunately we've had a couple of issues," RBR team principal Christian Horner had remarked last month. "We had a spark plug failure in the first grand prix that unfortunately prevented Sebastian from winning that race. We had a wheel-nut issue, but also both Mercedes and McLaren have had failures at different grands prix. We had a brake issue in Barcelona but Sebastian still managed to finish in third, so in terms of absolute show-stoppers we've only had one mechanical DNF. We've had no more, or less, than our competitors."

For all that Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button appear to have stayed in the reckoning through sheer consistency despite not having the fastest car out there, the McLaren-Mercedes MP4-25 has been far from bulletproof either. A last lap wheel rim failure cost Hamilton second place in Barcelona, transmission woes hobbled the 2008 world champion in Hungary last time out and Button similarly suffered in Monaco when his engine blew as early as the second lap - making the Woking-based outfit only the fourth-most reliable of 2010, behind Mercedes Grand Prix, the sole team aside from Ferrari to have had no driver error-induced DNFs.

Elsewhere amongst the front-runners, Renault has the worst reliability record, with four technical or mechanical retirements and two accidents - causing the Enstone-based operation to cede valuable ground to Mercedes in the battle for fourth spot in the constructors' standings.

At the bottom of the order, it is perhaps no great shock that Virgin Racing brings up the rear with eleven breakdowns in total, followed by Sauber on ten. Despite its initial, well-documented travails, Hispania Racing (HRT) has now laudably emerged as the most reliable of the three F1 2010 newcomers, with just eight technical or mechanical failures to finish from 24 starts so far.

The full table is as follows:

1. Ferrari1,471 laps (99.8%)23 finishes1 breakdown, 0 accidents
2. Red Bull Racing1,373 laps (93.1%)21 finishes1 breakdown, 2 accidents
3. Mercedes Grand Prix1,367 laps (92.7%)22 finishes2 breakdowns, 0 accidents
4. McLaren-Mercedes1,347 laps (91.4%)21 finishes2 breakdowns, 1 accident
5. Renault F11,274 laps (86.4%)18 finishes4 breakdowns, 2 accidents
6. Williams F11,269 laps (86.1%)20 finishes1 breakdown, 3 accidents
7. Force India F11,260 laps (85.5%)19 finishes3 breakdowns, 2 accidents
8. Scuderia Toro Rosso1,184 laps (80.3%)17 finishes4 breakdowns, 3 accidents
9. Lotus Racing1,049 laps (71.1%)12 finishes9 breakdowns, 3 accidents
10. Hispania Racing1,043 laps (70.7%)13 finishes8 breakdowns, 3 accidents
11. Virgin Racing 962 laps (65.2%)12 finishes11 breakdowns, 1 accident
12. Sauber 854 laps (57.9%)11 finishes10 breakdowns, 3 accidents