McLaren Expecting Tough Time in Canada

Team boss Ron Dennis thinks McLaren may struggle when they rejoin the battle to keep Ferrari behind them in the Formula One Championship at the next race in Canada.

"We know it's going to be tough, Canada's going to be very tough for us," said Dennis.

Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix allowed McLaren to regain the Constructors' Championship lead and move two points clear of their Italian rivals.

Finland's Kimi Raikkonen also stretched his overall lead to four points over Ferrari's World Champion Michael Schumacher after finishing runner-up in Monaco to the Williams of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya.

Although Coulthard was second and Raikkonen fourth in Montreal last year, the circuit should be more to the liking of Ferrari's new F2003-GA car. It may also suit Williams, although Dennis cautioned against reading too much into the Monaco result.

"I think the Monaco result always has the potential to be deceiving," he said. "It is a driver's circuit, it's all about qualifying, if you don't qualify well, you're not going to race well.

"So I wouldn't read too much into it but they obviously did a great job and they deserved the win."

McLaren are the only one of the top three teams who have yet to introduce their new car, but Canada could be the swansong for the old one. Dennis said McLaren aimed to introduce the 2003 car at the stop after Montreal on the Formula One circuit, the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring on June 29.

"It's got to be reliable and if it's not fully reliable by then, maybe we'll have to wait a little longer, but that's our target at the moment," he said.