Dennis: New formula won us over

Ron Dennis has warned Formula One chiefs not to tinker with a winning recipe after the most exciting grand prix in recent years.

The McLaren boss watched his lead driver Kimi Raikkonen win a stunning Japanese Grand Prix yesterday with a brave last-lap pass on Giancarlo Fisichella after fighting his way through the field from the back of the grid.

New world champion Fernando Alonso also started from the back and was not far behind in third after some breathtaking overtaking manoeuvres, including two on Michael Schumacher.

The Suzuka spectacle is so far the highlight of an already-exciting season which has seen several action-packed races prompted by a new qualifying system.

The current format allows teams to adopt different fuel strategies in qualifying, shaking up the grid and forcing faster drivers such as Raikkonen and Alonso to fight their way through.

But talks are underway to change the system again and Dennis warned against damaging a winning formula.

“I think we have got fantastic racing,” he said. “We should not change qualifying to the detriment of the great races we have had this year.

“They have stemmed from a qualifying format I did not support. I was wrong about the outcome of the qualifying format – at the end of the day it gave birth to great racing.

“Clearly you need to have very strong cars to race from the back but putting that aside this qualifying has mixed the grid and we have seen some great racing.

“For the sake of satisfying those people who are fixated with Saturday we should not change things which affect our Sunday.”

Dennis is also concerned tyre changes could return next year, affecting the balance of qualifying.

At the moment a driver must use the same set of tyres for qualifying and the race – providing they do not become dangerously damaged – and that gives Michelin and Bridgestone a tricky balance to strike.

Balancing instant speed over one-lap qualifying against consistent performance over a 200-mile race is the holy grail for tyre manufacturers and Dennis is worried that a return to old-style pit stops could unfairly disadvantage either Michelin or Bridgestone.

“Our position is very clear on qualifying,” he said. “When you affect a rule change the rule change should not penalise any team over another in respect of tyres.

“The proposals at the moment may favour Michelin, they may favour Bridgestone, but one thing is for sure they will favour one over the other.”

Despite Raikkonen’s win yesterday, which brought a tear to Dennis’ eye, McLaren lost their lead in the constructors’ championship due to Juan Pablo Montoya’s accident.

Renault hold a two-point advantage going into this weekend’s final race in Shanghai and engineering chief Pat Symonds believes they hold a reliability advantage.

Raikkonen’s engine failure in practice at Suzuka means he starts the Chinese Grand Prix weekend with a used engine, whereas both Renault drivers have new units, and Symonds believes that could be a crucial factor in a tight battle for honours.

“There is no doubt that Kimi used his engine very hard through the race,” he said. “That may introduce some compromises into how they run that in China.

“It is good news from our point of view, because we have a better engine - the E-specification – at our disposal for the final race, and we are optimistic that it might move us a little closer.”