The product of a superb start to the season, that title challenge turned into something of a rearguard action for a while, only to come dramatically alive again in Hungary in August.

The likelihood was always that Kimi Raikkonen was not going to be able to do quite enough, but he has every reason to be content with what in all respects has been a very impressive year.

TEAM HISTORY Nationality: UK Years in F1: 37 2003 position: 3rd Drivers' titles: 12 Constructors' titles: 9 Drivers: David Coulthard (GB) Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Team principal: Ron Dennis

Like Williams, McLaren made too many mistakes to have a realistic hope of beating Ferrari and Michael Schumacher over 16 races.

But where Williams lost out through a slow start to the season and too many driver errors, McLaren suffered through the fiasco of their MP4-18, the car that never raced.

It was supposed to take F1 technology to new levels, but a series of delays and reliability problems put back its debut to the point that it never made one, and will instead form the basis of next year's MP4-19.

Much as boss Ron Dennis prides himself on having the best organised team in the paddock, even McLaren-Mercedes struggled to build, design and develop two separate cars while also battling for a world championship.

It is to their credit that they coped so well and produced so much speed from a car that in 2002 had look nothing special.

But that does not alter the fact that they took too much on and effectively provided an example of how not to go about running a Grand Prix season, and may well have paid the price for that.

There also remain lingering doubts about Mercedes' ability to produce an engine that compete on an equal basis with the best on offer from Ferrari and BMW.

McLaren being the team they are, however, they will learn from these mistakes and bounce back even stronger next year.