Dennis takes 'sporting approach' to loss

McLaren held the top two spots of the drivers' points standing for most of the season, with Lewis Hamilton leading Fernando Alonso by four points before the Brazilian Grand Prix - and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen a further three points behind.

With either Hamilton or Alonso looking certain to win the title today, it came as quite a surprise when Raikkonen ended up clinching the title, beating both Alonso and Hamilton by just one point.

Capping off one of his most testing years in Formula One, Dennis put a brave face as he acknowledged his team's loss.

"At difficult moments like this, you've just got to have a sporting attitude to the outcome," he told ITV. "It's hard to find the right words. But I think our team have done a good job all year and should be proud of their achievements."

Dennis said Hamilton was lucky to have had superb car reliability all year long, and having suffered from gearbox problems today, it was simply a matter of getting his share of gremlins at the wrong time.

"Ferrari suffered their reliability problems in the beginning of the season, and we've had some today," Dennis said. "So it's not about one race, it's about the world championship.

"But as I said, this is a sport, and we will be sporting about it. Lewis has enjoyed phenomenal reliability from his car this year, so we haven't done a bad job this year. It's just come at the wrong time.

"This year has been challenging for lots of reasons, as you know. But we've got to be positive and sporting, and we look forward to next year."