McLaren will Fight Back, Says Dennis

McLaren boss Ron Dennis has admitted that his team have not progressed as fast as their rivals this year, but the Briton is convinced the Woking-based squad will fight back.

The British squad struggled for speed at last Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, and only one of their cars made it to the end of the race.

While Ferrari's six times World Champion Michael Schumacher romped to a dominant one-two win ahead of Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello, McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen was sidelined after nine laps with an engine failure while Scottish teammate David Coulthard scored one point for an eighth place finish.

"I am not making any excuses for our lack of performance but it is hard for people to grasp just how difficult it is to win," Dennis told Atlas F1 in an exclusive interview published in today's issue. "This is a sport where you spend a fortune to get a little.

"The amount of research and development we do to try and find a way to increase the performance of the car within the limitations of the rules and regulation which are very strict. And it's just huge, and you have a conviction that you are going forward, and you do go forward.

"We are one point something seconds faster here than last year. Unfortunately, someone else is two point something faster. That is the nature of the beast, it's not as if you are going backwards, it's just that you are not going forward as fast as your opposition."

Dennis, however, said McLaren will dominate again.

"We think we understand [our weaknesses], they are not going to be fixed in five minutes, but they will be fixed," Dennis added. "Nothing is more certain than that we will come back to dominance, that I am convinced of."