Sunday March 31st, 2002

By Timothy Collings

McLaren boss Ron Dennis does not rule out pursuing, along with team Williams, legal actions against the FIA's new 'One Engine Per Weekend' rule.

This, after rumours at Interlagos suggested the Williams-BMW and McLaren-Mercedes-Benz outfits are prepared to test the legitimacy of the FIA's latest controversial decision to restrict teams to one engine per driver, per Grand Prix weekend from 2004.

In a wide-ranging session of questions and answers at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Saturday evening, Dennis also went out of his way to confirm that he had no objections to the legality of the new Ferrari F2002 used by Michael Schumacher for the first time at a race, despite his pre-season claims suggesting the contrary.

When asked about the new car, which it had been suggested was the cause of his controversial pre-season remarks suggesting it may be irregular, Dennis said: "Regarding Ferrari, I think the less said the better."

But he went on to add that since the stewards had deemed it to be legal, it must therefore be legal. "I am sure there is not a car in the pit lane here that is not legal," he said.

Asked about tyres and in particular the highly-competitive performance of the Michelin rubber in the very hot conditions of Sao Paulo, Dennis said he would be surprised if a non-Michelin shod car won the race.

But he said that he expected the tyre war to be close and to ebb and flow between the two manufacturers throughout the season.

He also revealed that one of the reasons why McLaren had decided to switch from Bridgestone to Michelin this year was that logistically they could prepare, react and supply faster.

"It is less of a logistical challenge for them. They can manufacture the day before a test and the day after for a race," said Dennis. "That is one of the reasons why changing was a good move for us."

Dennis also dismissed reports following the recent Malaysian Grand Prix suggesting that David Coulthard had downgraded his ambition to win the Drivers' Championship.

He said, on the contrary, that despite certain comments being isolated and used for 'sound bytes', the Scot remained very confident and had lost no motivation.

He said also that he believed the Championship would be closely contested between three teams and that there would no runaway Championship leader this year.

"David has a good opportunity to win races and take points this year and he could win this race," he said. "So, too, could Kimi (Raikkonen)."

Regarding Coulthard, he added that "he led in Australia and he was very strong in Kuala Lumpur and so, yes, we let him down and, yes, we are working on it"

Both Dennis and Mercedes-Benz chief Norbert Haug were asked about the way in which the Formula 1 Commission and FIA World Council had passed the proposals for revised regulations on engines and other sporting matters.

Haug said he would have preferred it if the whole matter had been handled differently with greater consultation. But, he said, he supported the objective of cost-cutting in principle.

Haug pointed out that the autumn ban on testing last year had not saved costs, but had intensified the spending into the first weeks and months of this year.

Relating specifically to the proposal to restrict engines to one per car per weekend and to sanction teams that make a change by moving the relevant driver back 10 places, Haug said he felt the whole proposal needed to more precise and thought through.

"It is a complicated issue and there are a lot more points to consider, like the use of the T-car for example. It also puts a lot of pressure on the stewards and it could be that one decision by them could move a guy 10 places and decide the World Championship."

Dennis was critical of the moves and said that history showed in recent years that most of the cost-cutting regulation changes introduced had, in fact, increased costs instead of reducing them.

He said that the planned restrictions on engines would result in a new breed of more reliable high-performance engines being required. These, he said, would prove to be hugely expensive to design, develop and manufacture and this process, he suggested, would also scupper the theory that the entire rule-changing proposal had been introduced to enable the engine manufacturers to supply more than one team.

Asked about the possibility that he would be involved in taking the matter to arbitration, Dennis said it was an option. This comment backed a widespread paddock rumour in Interlagos that claimed both McLaren and Williams had decided to make legal moves to test the legitimacy of the propsoals and the manner in which they were created.

"We'd like to understand the regulation and see if it supports the objective of cost reduction," he said.

Dennis also talked about the improved performance of the Renault team and said he felt this was due to the excellence of the Michelin tyres. He said he did not think that the team's resurgence suggested they would emerge as a top four outfit because he thought the tyres were so good that they were able to mask the deficiencies of balance and downforce that might exist with the car.

Published at 14:21:27 GMT