New McLaren to miss British GP

By Andrew Benson
Motorsport editor

McLaren have confidence in the pace of their "old" car Ralf: I can be champion Schumi worried about Williams French GP race report

McLaren are almost certain not to be able to use their new Formula One car at the British Grand Prix.

The team are testing the long-awaited MP4-18 this week at Barcelona to assess its readiness for a race debut, but boss Ron Dennis has admitted that the car is not likely to race at Silverstone on 20 July.

"My target was to introduce it at the British Grand Prix, but it will be almost impossible to do so," Dennis said at the French Grand Prix.

That means the MP4-18 will almost certainly not make its debut until the Italian Grand Prix in September at the earliest - after which there are only two more races to go.

A testing ban means McLaren will have no opportunity to improve it before the Hungarian GP, the only race in August.

McLaren's radical new car has been hit by a number of delays during its gestation and the team have always said it would not race until it was as reliable as their current race car.

That means the MP4-18 may not even race until the start of next season, while McLaren are poised to start work on its replacement, the MP4-19, which will race during 2004.

McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen will therefore have to rely on the current car, an update of last year's MP4-17, as he fights to stay in the title chase.

This race (the French GP) was damage limitation Ron Dennis McLaren boss

The Finn had led the championship from the second race of the season until Michael Schumacher's victory in the Canadian Grand Prix last month.

But Raikkonen has slipped back in the last two races, after suffering an engine failure while leading the European Grand Prix and then a fourth place finish in France on Sunday.

He is now eight points behind Schumacher with six races to go and has Williams driver Ralf Schumacher coming up quickly behind him on the back of two consecutive wins.

But Dennis has insisted that he believes the MP4-17D is still quick enough to compete for the championship despite Williams' upturn in form.

"Our target is to win the championship," Dennis said, "and I know this car is capable of winning races."

Dennis' confidence was boosted by Raikkonen's performance at the Nurburgring eight days ago, when he was dominating until his retirement.

But McLaren - and everyone else - were outpaced at Magny-Cours on Sunday by Williams, who appear to have leapfrogged their way ahead of both McLaren and Ferrari on pace.

McLaren were beaten by Williams and Ferrari in France New McLaren may wait until 2004

McLaren's speed, by contrast, appears to have stagnated - where Williams have improved their car dramatically in recent races, McLaren's pace relative to Ferrari is about the same, despite improvements to their Michelin tyres.

Dennis said: "This race was damage limitation. We conceded one point to Michael and could have got more back.

"But this championship is going to swing totally on reliability because I do not think you are going to see uncompetitive cars fielded by ourselves or Ferrari.

"It is going to make reliability even more critical for the balance of the season; I think we've got a great world championship.

"It's inevitable that everyone's going to say it's the resurgence of BMW Williams. They've done a great job and are obviously serious contenders but we're fighters.

"One race win and one DNF (did not finish) for Michael and the situation's reversed. That is the way it is in Formula One. Our target is still the same."