Ron Dennis

After such an awful start to the 2004 season, McLaren has finished in a pretty healthy state, even if fifth place in the championship is the worst overall result since 1983 - and that was when life was pretty hopeless without a turbo engine.

Kimi Raikkonen's superb victory at Spa stands as the highlight, but the Finn also came pretty close in Brazil, and was a serious contender on his way to second at Silverstone and third - on the tail of Button and Barrichello - in China. But for a spectacular wing failure Hockenheim should also have brought a decent finish.

This time last year a lot of us thought that Raikkonen would be a title contender in 2004. While that didn't come to pass, it seems that this time the momentum is genuinely on McLaren's side, with the impending arrival of Juan Pablo Montoya adding to a sense of anticipation in the camp.



We came here to win. Of course coming second is something, but it's not a race win, and that's what we're here to do. If anyone is going to beat us I suppose Juan Pablo's the best person to beat us - we're amused by the fact that he beat Kimi and they're both coming to the team next year. Obviously it's going to be a strong combination. But we came here to win, and to be quite honest I'm disappointed that we didn't, because I think we had a chance. Really the weather more than anything made life difficult for everybody, but Juan Pablo drove a very good race, and he deserved to win. Nevertheless, I would have liked to have won!



No, no way. We don't have number ones. We have equal opportunities. Hopefully there will be lots of times that they're finishing one-two in the future.



I think we were in pretty good shape for most of the race. We were just a little bit weak at one particular point, but I think we recovered that well. There was a bit of hesitation on Kimi leaving the pits at one stage, which really I think unbalanced him, because Montoya came down the side of him in the pitlane. Fortunately by the end it was sorted out. I think that gave Montoya the momentum to overtake him.



It wasn't so much of a gamble, because Alonso was on grooved tyres, and it proved to be the right decision for him. Obviously at the end of the day it didn't work for David, it wasn't the best race for him. But he brought the car home in one piece.



David's a great ambassador for the team, a gentleman. He's done a good job and finished on the podium in one in every three races, so that's a pretty successful record for the team.



We need to settle down for a few days. Everyone has got to unwind. There are quite a few issues that we are addressing at the moment. Sometime after November 15 we'll understand what our obligations are, and whether we have to run three cars or not. Then we'll take a look at all the driver options at that stage.



That's an issue that's not in my control. We won't be taking those sorts of decisions. If that project moves forward, as we believe it will, then of course driver choice will be theirs to make.



I think that we know where we're going with the new car. It's a challenge for everybody, as there are quite a lot of rule changes. It's a question of who adapts best and who really gets their act together aerodynamically.



We certainly won't be starting with the old car. We're working extremely hard, just as everybody works hard in motor racing, of course. The aerodynamics are a very big challenge, and I don't think we have the luxury of just fine tuning what we have. These rules are very difficult to master. It's more likely that we'll start with the new car and have a significant update somewhere mid-season.