RACE RESULT 1 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 2 R Barrichello (Ferrari) 3 J Button (BAR) 4 J Trulli (Renault) 5 T Sato (BAR) 6 F Alonso (Renault) 7 R Schumacher (Williams) 8 M Webber (Jaguar) Full race result Race as it happened Bahrain GP in pictures

Both Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen suffered engine failures, the Scot retiring from eighth place with seven laps to go.

"Even if it had been a point or two it keeps it building so this is a bit of a low point," Coulthard said.

"There were only three non-finishers here and two of them were McLarens."

Raikkonen, who was second in the world championship in 2003, has failed to finish a race this season.

His engine failure on lap eight of the race was his second in a single weekend in a year when new rules dictate that teams are only allowed one engine per race weekend.

"It has been a difficult weekend for me and the entire team," the Finn said. "I just want to forget this weekend and look forward to the rest of the year."

Coulthard added: "All we can do now is go testing next week in Barcelona and get on with the work of developing it (the car) because that is what we have to do if we are going to understand the problem and fix it.

We've got to look to try and get some wins before the end of the year - but that might well be a dream David Coulthard Jonathan Legard's view

"Even if we are finishing, it is not with the pace that we would like.

"Ferrari are winning pretty easily and the pecking order is Ferrari, Williams, BAR and Renault. We would like to be among that top four."

But team boss Ron Dennis said the team will have to wait at least another month for a significant improvement to their car.

"I expect we'll have a stronger latter part of the season but we don't want to wait that long," Dennis said.

"The next improvement will be for Spain [on 9 May]. Until then, we'll just have to grin and bear it."

Raikkonen and Coulthard have found the MP4-19 difficult to balance and lacking grip.

And its Mercedes engine is lacking power and reliability compared to standard-setting motors from BMW and Ferrari.

Coulthard added: "This is not where anyone expects McLaren Mercedes to be. I don't suppose we will be in that position for very long.

"There's a lap time waiting to get out and we're just not harnessing it at the moment. We've got to look to try and get some wins before the end of the year, that's got to be the dream. It might well be a dream."