McLaren boss would rather have pace than reliability

Dennis acknowledged that the latest McLaren-Mercedes MP4-16 had been beset by reliability problems during pre-season testing, but he is confident the problems have been sorted in time for Sunday's season-opening Grand Prix in Melbourne.

"There is no question that we've suffered a whole range of problems in testing," said Dennis, "but we hope we have worked hard enough to eliminate them. We think we are reasonably well-prepared. Certainly, by Sunday we should have a reasonable indication of where we stand."

Dennis revealed the team's main focus was to ensure that the new car has pace-setting speed from the outset and that drivers Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard could hit the ground running come the first practice session on the Albert Park circuit on Friday.

"As far as we can tell, we think the car will be competitive," continued Dennis. "I would rather have a fast unreliable car than a slow reliable car. The challenge of getting reliability is a small one compared with making a slow car fast."

A McLaren has not finished the Australian Grand Prix for the last two years and failures in the first three races last year went a long way to losing Hakkinen his crown, handing arch-rival Michael Schumacher a decisive early edge.

However, Dennis defended McLaren's reliability record, claiming that the team has won a quarter of the races it has contested since its inception in 1966.

"I don't think we should become too paranoid about our reliability," he said. "One has to have a balanced view based on facts. And the facts are that in a normal season, our reliability last year was incredible. Our main competition had slightly better reliability and that, of course, tends to throw the spotlight on why we didn't win the world championship.

"But we don't get too obsessed about reliability. We are a strong Grand Prix team and we are motivated. I always feel a bit uncomfortable when people start to portray us as some sort of unreliable, incompetent team. We are far from that and I think our results show that."