McLaren pledges more to come

Team principal Ron Dennis has cited that Coulthard's poor start and Raikkonen's mistake in qualifying masked how competitive the new car was in Magny-Cours.

"The results don't really represent the pace we've achieved," said Dennis. "Kimi set the race's third fastest lap, which was only a few tenths [0.42s] off Michael Schumacher, so the pace is there. And obviously David's start hampered his race after he had qualified third. Kimi's qualifying was also hampered, so we have every reason to be optimistic."

Dennis is hopeful that the team can carry forward the improvement and turn in a strong showing at Silverstone's British GP on Sunday.

"I think we'll be stronger at Silverstone," he added. "We know the car a little better now and we have a few extra things coming, so we're looking forward to it. We're going to push hard for the rest of the season. We want to win some races - that's the objective."