Dennis Rues Lower Track Temperatures

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said the lower track temperatures in today's Belgian Grand Prix were the main reason why his team were unable to continue with the impressive form showed in qualifying.

"Low ambient temperature was the primary reason for the drop in our performance from yesterday," said Dennis after the race. "A difficult weekend, but nevertheless, as qualifying demonstrated, we are making progress."

Kimi Raikkonen had put on an impressive display yesterday, qualifying alongside Ferrari's Michael Schumacher on the front row of the grid. It was the first time that the Finn, who had topped the times in both practice sessions, qualified in the top two.

Raikkonen, however, was unable to follow the dominant Ferraris in the race, and eventually retired on lap 36 with an engine failure while running in fith position.

"Not the ideal way to end the weekend, but it's one of those things," said Raikkonen. "It's been an exciting weekend and I enjoyed starting from the front row, but ideally I would have liked to stay there."

Teammate David Coulthard enjoyed a more positive race despite being outperformed by Raikkonen in qualifying, the Scot finishing in fourth place.

"It's a pity that we couldn't achieve a better result today," he said. "The grip improved after my second pitstop when there was more rubber on the track and I had a low fuel load, which was why I set my fastest lap times towards the end.

"A very fast second pitstop by the team enabled me to close right up to Montoya, but unfortunately it was not enough."