Dennis doubts BMW can keep up

BMW Sauber have made a stronger than expected start to the season and, on the back of podium finishes in the first three races, the team are now leading the constructors' championship.

But Dennis believes that once the European season starts, the rate of development of his team and Ferrari will see the pair of them edge clear at the front of the field.

When asked after Bahrain whether he saw BMW Sauber as a consistent threat, Dennis said: "No.

"I think that we respect all competitors and they're doing a better job than they've done at any other time in their involvement in F1.

"But it is when we get to Europe that the R&D and speed of manufacture starts to make a difference. We'll be very strong and I'm not at all unduly worried about the future. It will be a fight right through the season."

Dennis has always insisted that the true form of the teams fighting it out at the front will only become clear at the Spanish Grand Prix, when the first major development updates are fitted to cars.

"As I said before we even started to race in Australia: these first three Grands Prix don't really represent the pace of a Grand Prix team," he explained.

"I presume everybody thinks we go back to England and the pace of development carries on, but maintaining the cars at this sort of range is challenging. So you're really focused on achieving reliability and getting a consistency in your performance (in these three races).

"The next race will see all the accumulated development of the last two months come onto the car and we'll have to see who's done the best job."

He added: "We're pretty confident we can make a good step but whether it's a bigger step than anybody else, time will tell."