McLaren: full potential not unleashed

McLaren believe that Juan Pablo Montoya's run to fourth place in Malaysia was not a true indication of their real potential

The Colombian was unable to race at the pace of the Renault and Honda cars ahead of him, but the team and driver believe that the need to open up the car to increase cooling for their Mercedes-Benz engine, was to blame for that.

Montoya said: "The car was good today and I think we had a solid race. We lost a lot of time in the first stint as my front tyres were graining, but as soon as we changed the tyres the car came back to life and if you look at my pace against Jenson Button later on it was pretty much the same.

"With the hot temperatures here we did have to look after the engine, which means that we had to sacrifice downforce, so finishing fourth is encouraging. We have scored some more points for the team and I think we look strong going into the next race."

With McLaren due to introduce a major upgrade to their car for the Australian Grand Prix, team boss Ron Dennis remains confident about the team's chances of fighting for victories.

"Kimi being taken out in the first lap and Juan Pablo's first stint tyre graining problems masked our true competitiveness. We also had to sacrifice some downforce to improve the cooling efficiency of the car.

"The whole team is looking forward to the scheduled improvements to both the car and engine, which should make us even more competitive in two weeks time. Unlike many teams, we have enjoyed good engine reliability which also supports our positive expectations for Melbourne."

Raikkonen, who was forced out after a collision with Christian Klien on the first lap, said he had no doubt about who was to blame for the incident.

"I am very disappointed because I had a great car set-up and very good race strategy," explained the Finn. "I think it was fairly obvious that Christian Klien made a pretty fundamental mistake and ran into the back of me at turn five, breaking my rear suspension in the process.

"A positive side, the team has had good race reliability in the first two races and I am already looking forward to Melbourne in two weeks."