McLaren: We're not making any predictions

Although Ron Dennis reckons that it is premature to start talking about challenging for the championships, he has acknowledged that the strong performance of the MP4-17D will allow the team to be more selective in choosing when to debut its 2003 car.

"It's great that we've won the races but we are under no illusions," Ron Dennis said after Kimi Raikkonen's second successive victory. "Ferrari is a very formidable competitor and they were clearly going to be very strong as the circuit was developing a dry line, which of course played heavily to the Bridgestone tyre choice. The reality is that it's a good way to start but there's a heck of a long way to go yet.

"It's way premature to start talking about championships. This race didn't reflect anything other than the weather conditions and single lap qualifying and the way it works. What is encouraging is that our MP4-17D chassis is performing very well and we are still targeting some further improvements on the car that will allow us to be even more selective about the race introduction of the MP4-18. It's far too early to be making any predictions but it's a wonderful position to be in and we'll enjoy it while we can."

Ferrari will debut its new F2003GA chassis at Imola in a fortnight.