Dennis Critical of Michelin's Performance

Ron Dennis blamed tyre suppliers Michelin for McLaren-Mercedes' poor performance in the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday but admitted his team have plenty to do themselves this season before they can start challenging for victory.

The British team, who were the first to unveil their car for 2004, had expected to close in on World Champions Ferrari as they attempt to steal the title from their Italian rivals this year. But it was a different story in Melbourne as Ferrari, helped by cool conditions that played into the hands of their tyre suppliers Bridgestone, claimed a dominant one-two finish.

McLaren were doubly disappointed because their performance was well below expectations as Kimi Raikkonen retired with engine failure early in the race and David Coulthard could only manage an eighth place finish.

"It is certainly a race that reflects the significant differential between one tyre manufacturer and another," said Dennis. "With the ambient temperature dropping so low everybody (running on Michelin tyres) suffered. We always push as hard as possible but it is the first race. You have got to appreciate we have won lots of races with Michelin and we'll undoubtedly win races in the future with Michelin - but it certainly wasn't their finest day.

"We suffered far more than any of the others because our own performance wasn't up to what it should be and the weather just played heavily into the hands of Ferrari - but hats off to them, they've done a great job this weekend."

Ferrari finished half a minute ahead of the field despite backing off to make sure they reached the finish and Dennis knows there is a long way to go before McLaren can match such a performance. He insists the team can come back but he admitted he is not sure how long it will take them to start challenging for wins again ­ and that will put a big dent in their world title hopes.

"I'm absolutely sure we have the resource and expertise to resolve the issue," said Dennis. "How fast we'll have to wait and see. We'll do a detailed post-mortem of the weekend and then get focused for the next race in Malaysia.

"We do know where the weaknesses are and we are working on them. I think the performance of all the Michelin runners will be significantly better (in Malaysia) but obviously Ferrari are in a league of their own at the moment.

"It's going to be difficult for any of the teams to match that performance. We know where we're going and what we have to do and the car's quite well balanced. It's not as if its a bad car."

McLaren's engine partners Mercedes have been blamed for much of the team's poor performance and it was one of their parts which caused Raikkonen to spin out of the race in the early stages. Dennis admitted the Mercedes engine must be improved if they are to have any chance of rising up the grid but he refused to plant all the blame for the team's performance on the German company.

"The engine is certainly one element of the package that needs to be improved," said Dennis. "Obviously an engine failure is not great but it would be completely unfair to attribute all the performance to any one component."