McLaren promises German attack

Raikkonen scored his first podium since the final race of 2003, finishing 2.1s behind race winner Michael Schumacher of Ferrari and dominating the opening laps of the race from pole position.

"I'm looking forward to Hockenheim," said Dennis. "We've got another step there, and maybe we can take the race to Michael. Just to win some races before the end of the season would be great. We'll enjoy the second place, but it is the first of the losers. We're here to win. We'll work hard between now and Hockenheim.

"We've turned things up a little bit. I think it's obviously a step in the right direction. It was a little bit frustrating to get blocked in the traffic. Michael was backing us into Rubens at one stage. It was a good race, but we can do better at the next one."

Dennis pointed to Giancarlo Fisichella's sixth place finish in his Bridgestone-tyred Sauber as a case in point that the Japanese rubber had the edge over Michelin at Silverstone.

"I think they had a tyre edge," he said. "Fisichella's performance today shows just what we're up against. I think we've got the pace. Even if you fuel-correct Michael's qualifying strategy, we still had the edge. We're close, it's just the race tyre needs to be a little bit better, which in Hockenheim it should be."