McLaren Hoping to Maintain F1 Superiority

McLaren believe they have begun to dominate Formula One rivals Ferrari after fighting back from a bad start this season to lead both the drivers' and constructors' world championships.

Technical director Adrian Newey said on Thursday: "It has looked as if a pattern of McLaren superiority is starting to emerge in the last few races.

"But that is one thing, maintaining it is something else."

Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher won the first three races of the year to lead the drivers' championship. In Hungary last weekend, however, McLaren finally bridged the gap.

Newey, senior designer of McLaren's Mercedes-Benz-powered cars, has also been the chief strategist behind defending champion Mika Hakkinen's fightback.

On Saturday, Schumacher and the Ferrari team swept to pole position at the Hungaroring only for McLaren to respond on Sunday.

Hakkinen, the race winner, and his team-mate David Coulthard, who finished third behind Schumacher, showed they were both faster than the Ferraris.

"We had got the car to work well on race levels of fuel and used tyres on Friday," explained Newey. "But we could not make it work as well with new tyres on one lap on Saturday. It left us with quite a bit of work to do."

Newey played down his part in the team's efforts to find a set-up that would bring out the best in their cars.

"Everyone worked very hard and there were times when we were trying a lot of different things with Mika," he said. "David developed a pretty consistent set-up throughout the weekend, but Mika was, let's say, different.

"I wish I could say it was a nice linear progression, but I would be lying. But he did a brilliant job and it paid off in the end."

Newey knows he and Hakkinen have to do it all over again in each of the last five races for McLaren to celebrate a rare achievement -- Hakkinen's emulation of Argentine Juan-Manuel Fangio's hitherto unique achievement of a hat-trick of drivers' titles, achieved in the 1950s.

Hakkinen, however, said: "I am not looking any further ahead than the next race. I will keep my head down, stay calm and concentrated and worry about the championship when the points are counted up at the end of the season.

"It is fantastic what this team can do. Everyone works hard in every department and no-one ever gives up. That gives us all great motivation for the fight ahead."