Dennis Not Impressed by New Ferrari's Pace

McLaren-Mercedes team chairman Ron Dennis says he is not impressed by the pace of the new Ferrari F2003-GA despite his team finishing more than a second behind the red cars.

World Champion Michael Schumacher put his new car on pole with teammate Rubens Barrichello completing a front row lockout for the Italian giants as they prepared for their new machine's first race.

Dennis, whose team have taken an early lead in the title race, found a positive spin to put on the domination of the new Ferrari.

"I wasn't really impressed by the pace of the new Ferrari," said Dennis. "It's a step but not a very big step on the pace of their old car. It bodes well for what we hope will be a very good performance for our new car."

Dennis also backed World Championship leader Kimi Raikkonen today after the young Finn made a mistake in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix that left him unable to set a competitive time.

Raikkonen, who won the Malaysian Grand Prix in March and has finished all four of the season's races on the podium, went over the gravel trap in the second sector of his one-lap qualifying run.

The 23-year-old will start from the back of the grid after pulling into the pits at the end of his run.

"He's leading the Championship and he'll still be leading the World Championship whatever happens tomorrow," said a smiling Dennis. "At the end of the day we still think the strategy we have is right one and that he'll score points.

"It's worth coming into the pits instead of completing the lap because he was four seconds down after going off so it was better to save the fuel than wasting it. His position is what it is and he'll have that little bit more fuel."

It was a difficult day for the McLaren team and Raikkonen's Scottish teammate David Coulthard could only manage eighth place on the grid after a last-minute engine change.

"We had a problem with David's engine in the build up to the session," added Dennis. "The guys did a great job. They switched it in a little under half an hour, which is pretty quick as you can imagine."