Dennis: Ferrari made us look better

McLaren-Mercedes driver Mika Hakkinen won the race by almost 34 seconds, with Ferrari trailing him home second and third after adopting a one-stop pitstop strategy. Hakkinen, like the majority of runners at Silverstone, pitted twice.

"I think we have genuinely improved our performance, but not as much as the race indicated," he said. "I just think that Ferrari did a particularly bad job, and that made us look even better.

"I don't want to be too critical of Ferrari, because it so easy for us to criticise ourselves," he added. "Motor racing is very challenging, and to be very competitive all the time is very difficult. If I had my worst weekend and had a second and a third, I'd probably be pretty happy.

"But most certainly their strategy was completely wrong. I don't think anyone in the team would argue to the contrary, and it's a bit of a mystery to us why they even considered it."

Ferrari team principal Jean Todt dismissed suggestions that its strategy was at fault, saying that a set-up mistake was more of a factor.

"They (McLaren) had a strategy which was better adapted to the race conditions," he said, "and I think our cars weren't set up as well as they might have been."

Bridgestone introduced a new construction tyre for Silverstone, but Dennis does not believe that it played significantly into the hands of McLaren.

"To my knowledge, I don't think it required any radical car change to achieve a balance," he said. "Clearly, whenever a new tyre comes in it always favours one team more than another. But I don't think there was a difference that reflected through to making life difficult for Ferrari.

"I think it was a very small difference. I think that they would readily admit that either they got the set-up wrong, or some other factor."

Both teams get a chance to fine-tune their set-ups on the latest Bridgestones with a four-day test at Monza in preparation for the German Grand Prix on July 29.

For full Ron Dennis Q&A click here.