Newey had a 'bitter battle' at McLaren

Newey has made no secret in the past of the fact that he believed McLaren should have created an all-new car for the start of 2004, after the disastrous MP4-18A that never raced - but only now has he admitted the extent of his unhappiness at the situation then.

Speaking in the May edition of F1 Racing, which goes on sale next week, Newey hit back at suggestions from former boss Ron Dennis that he was contemplating retirement last year after taking 2.5 months holiday during the season.

"Yes, I had a bit more than the usual holiday time in 2005," said Newey, who was McLaren technical director from 1997 until late last year.

"But, in terms of retiring, the only time I really considered it, to be perfectly honest, was at the end of 2003, during a bitter battle with McLaren about what direction we should take with the 2004 car.

"I became a bit disillusioned with the whole situation. It was all to do with the MP4-19A, which was effectively a rebadged 18A (the unraced car), and I felt there were inherent problems with the 18A.

"We could and, I believe, we should have built the 19B straight away, and, if we'd had the 19B at the start of 2004, I think we'd have had an altogether different season.

"I doubt that we'd have won the championship, but we'd certainly have won a few more races that we did."

McLaren won only one race that year, the Belgian Grand Prix, after struggling to get anywhere near the pace of the dominant Ferrari team.