10/07/2004
NEWS STORY
McLaren boss Ron Dennis has accused Ferrari of turning today's qualifying session into a farce - or in Ronspeak, a comedy involving (prancing) horseplay, and a ridiculously improbable situation.
Still grinning from ear to ear following his team's return to form, courtesy of Kimi Raikkonen taking pole position for tomorrow's British GP, Dennis turned his attention to his Maranello rivals.
"I think if you want to use the word farce," said Dennis, "you should use it on one team who deliberately spun their cars and expected all the other teams to believe it was an accident. That's farcical."
He was referring to two incidents during the first session, when Michael Schumacher span while seemingly on his way to provisional pole, and Rubens Barrichello went wide. Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn subsequently admitted that both 'mistakes' were deliberate.
"Our weather forecast predicted rain for the second half of the qualifying session," said the Englishman, "therefore we did not want to risk being among the last out on track.
"We tried to do it in such a way that the other teams would not understand our intentions," he admitted, "but they did the same thing anyway."