Kimi Raikkonen has rejected suggestions the inexperience of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen is McLaren's Achilles heel this season.
Hamilton, in particular, has made mistakes not seen in his rookie year when he was pipped to the Formula One world championship by a point by Ferrari's Raikkonen.
Kovalainen has also had his fair share of problems, not all of his own making, but the end result is that McLaren trail Ferrari by 33 points in the constructors' title race heading into next weekend's British Grand Prix.
When asked whether the duo's lack of experience was costing McLaren dear, Raikkonen replied: "I don't think so because there are a lot of people who know what they are doing.
"Sometimes you have a difficult car, sometimes you have a better one. That's normal."
Ahead of the race at Silverstone, Raikkonen is hopeful of repeating his victory of a year ago
Speaking at the end of a three-day test at the track where he set the fifth best time of the week, the 28-year-old Finn said: "We have a good car here.
"It is hard to say from the testing what fuel loads everybody else was running and where we are exactly, but the feeling is good.
"We need to wait until next Friday to see where we are against the others, but we were strong here last year, so I expect us to be in with a good chance of being able to win the race again.
"I hope to be in a position - we should be in a position - to win, and we will see if we can achieve it."
Raikkonen believes it will be a straight shootout between Ferrari and McLaren, effectively writing off the chances of BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica.
Kubica is two points clear of leader Felipe Massa and three ahead of Raikkonen due to a consistent run of points finishes.
But Raikkonen added: "McLaren are always strong here, and I'm expecting that next weekend.
"I think it's going to be quite close between us and them. I don't see the other teams being close enough for the win."
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