Dennis praises DC's commitment

In only his second season of Formula 1, Raikkonen out-qualified his vastly experienced team-mate 10-7, but Coulthard took the team's only win (at Monaco) and ended the year with 17 more points than the Finn.

"There is no doubt Kimi is developing into an outstanding Formula 1 competitor with a great future," Dennis told the BBC. "By the same token David has responded to his presence in the team with precisely the balance that we would have expected from someone so seasoned in the ways of F1.

"It would have been disappointing if he had been comfortable with sometimes being out-qualified by his team-mate. But he has certainly not been destabilised in any way by Kimi's presence. Under such circumstances it would have been easy for an experienced driver to lose his focus."

Next year will be Coulthard's eighth at McLaren. During that time he has won 11 races. Raikkonen took four podiums this season and came agonisingly close to winning the French GP before making a mistake almost within sight of the flag.