Sunday March 12th, 2000

By Timothy Collings

Team boss Ron Dennis said he was confident McLaren could resolve the reliability problems that forced both cars to retire from Sunday's Australian Grand Prix for the second year running.

The two McLarens started first and second on the grid for Sunday's opening race of the season but, just as they did a year ago, both cars were retired early because of engine problems.

World driver's champion Mika Hakkinen pulled out on the 19th lap after leading the race from the start while team mate David Coulthard withdrew on the 12th lap while he was running second.

"This is an understandably disappointing outcome to a race that we were controlling from the front," Dennis said.

"But we can at least be positive about the fact that the failures we experienced are the same as those in practice which means it should not be particularly difficult to find a solution."

McLaren lost their constructor's championship to Ferrari last year because of continuing reliability problems. Hakkinen failed to finish five of the 16 races while Coulthard retired seven times, including each of the last three races.

By winning the last race of the year, Hakkinen was able to retain his driver's championship and while he was disappointed to start the new season with a retirement he said he was still encouraged by the speed of his car.

The Finn claimed his third successive pole position during Saturday's qualifying session and was able to lead through the first third of the race without having to push too hard.

"I was very happy with the car before the failure although obviously I'm disappointed to leave Australia and the first race of the season without any points, particularly since I didn't score any points here last year either," he said.

Coulthard was also upbeat because he thought McLaren's engine problems were aggravated when the safety car was brought onto the track after Pedro de la Rosa and Eddie Irvine both crashed.

The two McLarens were forced to slow down while the wrecks were cleared off the track and it was immediately after that the problems began.

"I made a good start and was feeling comfortable in second place when the engine developed a misfire just after the safety car pulled in," the Scot said.

"I went into the pits to change the engine mapping but the problem could not be cured and that was the end of my Australian Grand Prix."