Coulthard works on long-term plan to topple Schumacher

Encouraged by recent success, McLaren's No 1 driver will have the world champion back in his sights at Silverstone on Sunday

If David Coulthard listened to some of the advice directed his way, he would have turned his back on McLaren-Mercedes and headed for another team. He might even have taken his cosy motor home to a remote Scottish island and given up on Formula One altogether.

Negative vibes have been an occupational hazard for Coulthard, a driver good enough to win 12 grands prix and on more than one occasion get the better of Michael Schumacher, yet who has still to convince everyone he is a champion in waiting.

John Watson, the former McLaren driver, recently claimed Coulthard had no future at the team because he was mere "cannon fodder" for his young Finnish team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen. The Scotsman shrugged off the suggestion as more irrelevant bleating from another interfering old driver.

A recurring criticism of Coulthard is that, unlike the recognised greats, he is not blessed with the capacity to make the best of a bad job. Give him a good car, which he has had for much of his eight years in Formula One, and he will deliver with near perfection. Ask him to improvise with a difficult or inferior car and he will more likely be put out of his elegant stride. Knowledgeable observers, including Jackie Stewart, identified the damning trait early this season and Coulthard's body language provided little argument.

This was to be his best chance of the championship. Winter testing had nourished optimism, and now, for the first time as a McLaren driver, he was the senior partner. Mika Hakkinen, the long-favoured son, had flown the nest.

The first race shattered the illusion, the second blew it away. Ferrari were a class apart and even Williams-BMW were too good for McLaren. Coulthard, to the dismay of his team, expressed his frustration that the title would again be out of reach.

He was in danger of being swamped by the new wave, both within his team and in the British rankings. Raikkonen – fast, self-assured, irreverent – was a young man in a hurry. A resurgent Jenson Button, driving a much-improved Renault, edged ahead of 31-year-old Coulthard in the championship table.

"I think David's got himself too wound up,'' Stewart, three times a world champion, a fellow Scot and once Coulthard's mentor, said. "He's too tight, too intense. I'm still a big believer in David. He has the ability. But he's got to get his head together and get over that frustration.''

And then came Monaco. Coulthard laughed off his prospects before the race. Yet he drove immaculately, never flinching under severe pressure from Schumacher, and recorded his second victory in three years at the principality. A second place in Canada was, in its way, equally commendable. The championship was out of the question, but he had propelled himself into the thick of the contest for the runner-up position, which would carry more weight this year than last.

Although a tangle with Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya denied him further points at the Nürburgring, Coulthard now heads for Sunday's British Grand Prix at Silverstone with his reputation buffed up and his confidence aglow.

McLaren get touchy when their drivers have the audacity to reveal they have a contract for the following season, so Coulthard's inclination to give a straight answer to a straight question has been compromised. However, he lets it be known in a suitably ironic manner that far from having a seven-year itch, he is content to be staying at McLaren for another season.

"This is the team to be with,'' he says. "They have all the ingredients to produce a world championship-winning car again. The elements are not all there this year but we shall continue to try to develop the package.

"There will always be opportunities for me to move because I am a world-class driver who has won 12 grands prix so it is not surprising that there are other people who are interested in my services. But I recognise that McLaren offer the best short and medium-term opportunity to win the championship.

"I would be very disappointed if I were not to win a championship because that has been my goal since I arrived in Formula One, but being a realist, I am not someone to dwell on the past. Why dwell on things that cannot be changed? Far better to just get on with it. If you are smart, you give it 100 per cent, and I like to think I do that.

"The championship is not everything. The love of racing is. I know that sounds kind of corny, but it's true. I'll know it's time to retire when I lose that. But right now, I get the genuine buzz when race day comes. I'm like a kid on Christmas Day.''

Surely that love and childlike excitement was deflated by that second race of the season, the Malaysian Grand Prix?

"You would have thought so. Of course, I was disappointed. The realisation of our lack of performance was something that was with me up until qualifying. But on Sunday morning, you are looking to the race and it doesn't matter where you are on the grid, you just want to get the best out of the car.''

Even if he achieves that next Sunday, it may not be good enough to bring him a third success at Silverstone, a venue he believes has been unjustly vilified by the sport's authorities.

"Silverstone is definitely one of the big races of the year and if you win one of the biggies, it's more satisfying,'' he says. "Silverstone has the history and tradition. Some of the criticism of the circuit may be fair, but I think it has been unfairly singled out by the FIA. The facilities at Monaco, and the traffic problems at Spa, for instance, are just as bad, or worse. There is a lot of investment going into Silverstone and I'm sure they'll make the improvements required.

"I think I have less of a chance this year than in previous years because the car is less competitive. But it's not impossible. A wet race could be our best bet. We don't really know. I would expect Williams to be strong, and of course, Ferrari have been competitive and reliable everywhere.''

So competitive and so reliable that Schumacher is 46 points clear of the rest and almost certain to match Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five world championships. Coulthard has had his brushes with Schumacher on and off the circuit down the years, but does not allow those incidents to sour his judgment of the German.

"I hear people saying they are sick of seeing Schumacher win, which is maybe another way of saying it's boring. But it's up to us to do a better job and beat them. Michael is making the most of his opportunities. That is what drivers, if they are motivated, should do. It's what I did at Monaco.

"I don't envy Michael. I'm not jealous of anyone. I don't envy him his car. I have had that opportunity in the past. Jealousy is a negative emotion that will only sap energy.

"I am genuinely not envious of Michael's achievements. I admire them. It is incredible that he has won so many races and championships, but he has not done it by accident. He has done it by application and opportunity. That's life.

"I still have my opinions about how he races and I have not changed those. But ultimately, if the FIA don't agree with me, then you have to say he has been cleverer in that respect because many of the rules are grey. I'm happy with the way I drive. I won the races I was in a position to win by passing him and beating him. I have not finished many right behind him.''

Coulthard's objective is to finish behind no one and he is optimistic he and McLaren will attain the preferred position before Schumacher is able to win a sixth championship.

"I expect McLaren to be competitive again next season,'' Coulthard says. "We have an opportunity this season to identify areas where we are strong and weak, and make the necessary adjustments. That is what we are doing and we should see the benefits of that work in 2003."