Coulthard keeps momentum going

Coulthard drops Hakkinen off at the end of the race

BBC Sport's motor racing correspondent Jonathan Legard looks back at the Spanish Grand Prix.

David Coulthard polished his record as Mr Consistency - the only driver to score points at each of the five races this season - but he did it in spite of, not because of the electronic wizardry designed to make his life easier.

The frailty of the new traction control system was glaringly exposed when Coulthard's McLaren stalled before the formation lap, forcing him to start from the back of the grid.

The Scot then turned in one of the drives of the day by recovering to claim fifth place when merely finishing would have been an achievement.

The result keeps him strongly placed in the championship, eight points adrift of Michael Schumacher.

After I came in for the first pit stop I was so frustrated I just wanted to throw the car into the gravel

  David Coulthard

It also underlines his continuing title momentum in contrast to the misfortunes of his team-mate, Mika Hakkinen, particularly after Coulthard was bumped in the first corner rush and then had to come into the pits at the end of the first lap to replace his front wing.

"After I came in for the first pit stop I was so frustrated I just wanted to throw the car into the gravel," he admitted.

"But I refocused and thought I'd use the rest of the race as a test session.

"The problem has never happened in practice. The boffins are scratching their heads because it shouldn't have happened, even though I was changing it (traction control system) so that I wasn't on full power."

Troubled waters

Coulthard's problems - his hydraulic system also let go in spectacular fashion in the morning warm up - recalled those he suffered at last year's race in Canada.

Then he stalled on the front row of the grid, incurred a stop-go penalty and could only scramble in seventh.

This time he may feel more sore about comments made by team principal, Ron Dennis, who accused him of "brain fade" at the start.

Dennis tried later to smooth troubled waters by claiming the team had cleared Coulthard of blame for the incident.

I'm still not out of the championship until it's mathematically impossible

  Mika Hakkinen

But not before the Scot had wondered aloud: "Ron must be suffering brain fade himself by saying that without asking the driver or his engineers."

Given Coulthard's significant points advantage over his team-mate - 28 versus four - it may only be a matter of time before Dennis and Hakkinen need to concentrate their thoughts more fully on him.

Hakkinen's composure in the face of adversity has to be admired.

He would have become the most successful driver ever at the Spanish Grand Prix if he'd won the race for the fourth consecutive year.

His final lap failure - five corners from home - now extends to nine his sequence of non-Finnish victories, his worst since winning for the first time in 1997.

"I'm still not out of the championship until it's mathematically impossible," he insisted.

"But it is a bit of a worry. I just wish there was a punch bag in the motorhome so that I could hit it a few times!"

Michael Schumacher's gym, one presumes, is out of bounds. Unless he feels one good turn deserves another.