Mika Hakkinen's dream of recapturing the Formula One drivers' title taken from him at Suzuka last year by Michael Schumacher could be shattered by the fragility of McLaren's 2001 challenger.

The Finn, who goes into this Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix looking to repeat the form that last swept him to victory in Melbourne in 1998, admitted that this year's McLaren MP4-16 may give him the sort of spluttering start he experienced last season.

While Adrian Newey's latest design has been the class of the field in pre-season testing in terms of speed, Hakkinen has been left standing beside a broken machine often enough to warrant concern in the run-up to Sunday's campaign opener.

"We've had far too many problems and that doesn't make me optimistic for Melbourne," said the twice world champion.

However, the Finn, whose motivation was called into question during last year's stop-start championship challenge, remains confident his team will not be found wanting as the season unfolds.

"I have complete confidence in my team and I know the car will ultimately enable me to fight for the title. Even if I lose points to Ferrari in Melbourne, it won't be a problem," he insisted. "All in all, I am confident about this year's world championship."

Hakkinen's concerns were echoed by McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh. "It's early days for the new car but we were disappointed that we experienced a few reliability issues with the car, which we do intend to address before the first race in Australia."

Technical failures to last year's frail MP4-15 allowed Michael Schumacher an almost clear run through the first four grands prix, and let the German build a points cushion that looked almost unassailable - until Hakkinen packed off on holiday to re-establish his mental focus and reinvigorate his championship challenge.

While Hakkinen is unlikely to suffer the kind of crisis of confidence that threatened to wreck his 2000 challenge, the mechanical unpredictability of yet another new McLaren could once again allow Schumacher and Ferrari to steal a crucial early-season march on their chief rivals.

Michael Schumacher admitted as much yesterday, saying that minor technical glitches associated with the new Ferrari F12001 were insignificant and that he felt the team were well prepared for this weekend's race.

"The feeling is generally good," said the world champion. "The car showed good speed right from the beginning. We have had some technical problems, but it is better that we have them in testing than at Melbourne. There is nothing to worry about," he added.

Meanwhile, Ferrari engine customers Prost yesterday unveiled a new livery which the once troubled outfit hope will take from the doldrums of last year's last place finish in the constructors' championship to a comfortable midfield finish.

Having flirted with ruin at the end of last season, when engine suppliers Peugeot pulled out of F1 in an acrimonious split with the French outfit and title sponsor Gauloises also withdrew their funding lifeblood, Prost set about rebuilding his shattered team.

First he sealed a deal for a supply of Ferrari's 049 engines, the same units that powered the scuderia to a double championship victory in 2000. To pay the reported $25 million Ferrari asking price, the three-time world champion relinquished some control of the company, allowing former Sauber pilot Pedro Diniz to funnel some of his family's supermarket fortune into a shareholding of the team.

Prost also brought in South American cable TV giant PSN as main sponsor, taking the company away from a potential takeover of Minardi.

The result is the AP04, a car that has blitzed several tests in pre-season and prompted number one driver Jean Alesi to claim that he had finally "been given a Formula One car again".

Yesterday, Prost said he believed the new package put together by the team would lead them to the security they crave. "I feel we are finally ready to step up and achieve credible gains this year," he said.

"In the pre-season we have worked very hard and our efforts have paid off. The AP04 ran quite early and since its first test has performed well and consistently.

"Our initial focus has been reliability and we seem to have achieved that. I am confident that Prost GP will see positive results from the very first of the season."