FORMULA ONE: When David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen crossed the line at the end of the French Grand Prix in sixth and seventh place respectively, a ripple of a smile may have flickered across the face of Ron Dennis.

Never a man to give vent to his emotions, the McLaren chairman must also have breathed a sigh of relief at the performance of the new MP4/19B, which had finally kick-started his team's season. McLaren had endured a catastrophic nine races, blighted by a car which was as unreliable as it was uncompetitive.

"The emotional lift that you feel is really sparked by the first test of a new car," he said. "If you've been in the business a long time you can quickly sense whether or not you are going in the right direction. But by then we'd all agreed that we would downplay what we believe will be the ultimate performance of the car. I think that approach is the by-product of our long experience in this business."

Dennis may be forgiven for expecting even better things at this Sunday's British Grand Prix, given that the team have won three of the past six races at Silverstone. However, two victories by Coulthard and one by Mika Hakkinen were sandwiched by wins for Michael Schumacher in 1998, 2002 and 2003.

McLaren have won the race 12 times. It is probably a tall order to expect a 13th on Sunday, but the MP4/19B's revised aerodynamics and rear suspension should enable Coulthard and Raikkonen to tackle the sweeping, high-speed corners with a confidence denied them so far this season.

Dennis is a perfectionist who is proud of his team's record of 19 world championships, and it has pained him to watch his cars perform so badly. Some of McLaren's rivals, however, have taken pleasure in watching a team whom they perceive as arrogant getting their comeuppance.

McLaren have also attracted much ribbing for their investment in a £218 million (€320 million) technology centre near Woking.

Dennis is unconcerned. "McLaren is a much warmer team than a lot of people may conclude from the outside," he said. "My thinking is that it is too easy to amplify the highs and lows which are generated by the Formula One business. If you do, you are effectively creating an emotional roller coaster for all your staff, which is not the best environment in which to run a business.

"We are, above all else, a company which cares about its employees. So we try to provide our people with an understanding of where the company is going and what we are trying to do.

"That goes beyond Formula One, and I believe that any company which concentrates singly and solely on being a Formula One team will ultimately fail in commercial terms. You have to grow the business, and to do that you have to create the right atmosphere, and a helter-skelter environment is not conducive to that situation."

Dennis is strong on loyalty and is unconditionally supportive of Raikkonen and Coulthard, although he acknowledges that the Scot wants to keep racing after his contract ends this year.

There is a paradox here, one which reflects Dennis' ability to compartmentalise his thinking. Last summer he took the pragmatic decision to replace Coulthard with the Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya because he felt that the Colombian was a better long-term bet. Yet for the moment Coulthard remains a McLaren man and is afforded the respect which goes with that status.

"Kimi and David are both capable of winning grands prix and world championships," Dennis said. "Of course when they are faced with an uncompetitive situation, any driver will find motivation difficult to sustain, but at the end of the day they are part of the team. They are highly paid employees but they are still employees, just like I am along with all the technical staff and everybody else at McLaren."

He also rejected the view that Montoya, with his reputation as a prima donna, might have difficulty integrating in the well-drilled McLaren environment.

"I think because of our stabilising environment we can have a good relationship with Juan Pablo," he said. "We have a proven record of getting the best out of drivers from diverse backgrounds and reputations."