Red Bull wrapped up their fourth Formula One championship double this year, finishing 236 points ahead of Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship while Sebastian Vettel clinched another individual title.
Vettel secured personal glory - for a fourth year in succession - with three races to spare before capping the season off in Brazil with a record-equalling ninth straight win.
However, Whitmarsh believes McLaren's fall from grace - Jenson Button and Sergio Perez finished ninth and 11th respectively in the Drivers' Championship – shows that Red Bull should not get carried away.
Asked whether Red Bull's winning run was likely to continue, Whitmarsh told Autosport: "It is foreseeable it could, because they have done a good job.
"But at the same time, sadly I can give the McLaren example of this year.
"We didn't decimate the opposition but we were dominant in the last few races of last year, and we certainly weren't this year. Maybe, though, they are cleverer than us.
"Recently I don't think the engine has been a performance differentiator, or a reliability differentiator.
"But the power train, fuel efficiency, heat rejection, the overall power of it, the efficiency of ERS, the packaging, and all those things surrounding it means you would imagine it might be now.
"So that might be a differentiator that is to some extent out of their hands."