Ron Dennis dismisses Ferrari win

McLaren boss Ron Dennis has dismissed Michael Schumacher and Ferrari's triumph at the Australian Grand Prix as a win due to weather conditons. Ferrari caused a storm of speculation as to why they did not bring the new F2002 car to Melbourne but Schumacher easily took the victory in the older F2001 chassis. But Dennis, for whom Kimi Raikkonen took third for his first podium, said the changeable weather conditions suited Ferrari and a comparison between their car and others was negligable.

'If you had brought your 2001 car, the first thing you'd be happy to get would be changeable weather in practice and qualifying which gave everyone little running time on a dry track,' he said. "The people with new cars were at a disadvantage. I think that we have built a very good car this year, but the conditions didn't help us."

McLaren have taken to running Michelin tyres this year and could have been at a disadvantage in the damp conditions as Michelin are still struggling with intermediate rubber. But Dennis was happy with new signing Raikkonen's podium even if disappointed with Coulthard's failure. "David's gearbox problem is very frustrating as we had completed 7,500km of on-track testing. But we must take some comfort from Kimi's excellent drive; fastest lap and third place." He said.