Formula One: McLaren bosses take rap for technical errors

McLaren-Mercedes boss Ron Dennis claims the team should take its share of blame for recent start-line disasters - claiming they are "making a meal" out of new technology.

Championship-chasing David Coulthard's chances of victory in last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix were ruined when a technical glitch left his car stranded on the grid during the formation lap, forcing him to start from the back.

That was not the first time a McLaren has stalled embarrassingly on the grid

since the introduction of 'launch control' technology - designed to make life easier for drivers when the lights go green.

Mika Hakkinen's race was ruined at the previous round in Austria when his car refused to start, forcing him into retirement.

Now Dennis has promised he will make no excuses as he bids to beat the reliability curse.

"I would like to make lots of excuses but it is not that complex. We are just making a meal of trying to optimise everything and as we introduce higher levels of sophistication into the car that complexity catches us out.

"We like to think of ourselves as professionals and when you suffer this kind of problem twice, professionalism is not the word that springs to mind.

"It is pretty painful but we have to take the pain. It's our screw-up. The things we are good at we will continue and the things we are bad at will improve. The responsibility for this does not lie with the drivers."