Too Early for Title Says Dennis

Raikkonen claimed his second consecutive win in Monaco and, with McLaren appearing to enjoy a car advantage over Renault, the Finn is now clearly World Championship leader Fernando Alonso's main threat for title honours.

But Dennis knows that the 22 points advantage that Alonso has over Raikkonen is not going to be cut down quickly - and that only a consistent run of results over the remainder of the season is going to allow his star to emerge on top.

"The championship is a long way off now," said Dennis. "The only way you can get your mind around it is to think about what I say to my kids - how do you eat an elephant? There's only one way to eat an elephant, one mouthful at a time.

"There is no way we are going to swallow that lead in one event, it's going to take time."

Raikkonen's victories in Spain and Monaco have come after McLaren finally unlocked the full potential of their MP4-20, and Dennis sees no reason why his team's current form cannot be maintained for the rest of the season.

"I don't think there's any doubt that we have a car that is capable of winning any of the remaining races if the competition retains its current position," he said. "Other people will work hard to improve their performance.

"You never know where you are because you never know how competitive the teams are, but we will continue to improve the car.

"Each of the following races will see further improvements on the car. At the moment there is no particular weakness that the car has. We know where we can make it better but there's nowhere that it is particularly weak. Of course each circuit brings with it different challenges."

And in a swipe at his rivals who have criticized Dennis' approach to Formula One, he believes the team is now reaping the rewards for their massive investment in new factory the McLaren Technical Centre.

"The personal satisfaction I get is to see the Technology Centre actually delivering the results," added Dennis. "What is particularly pleasing so far is we have had just one  failure out of several starts. That is another demonstration of how our facilities are working now.

"The Technology Centre is something that gives the engineer the ability to explore every opportunity to improve the car, attracts the best people and the results are starting to come.

"Of course there were lots of people who were very critical of that investment but if we are able to maintain this pace it will be the best proof of demonstrating their loss."