Coulthard's car trouble

Schumacher (l) has overshadowed Coulthard this season

By BBC motor racing correspondent Jonathan Legard

Dehydrated and despondent that his championship challenge was finally over, David Coulthard had every reason to look uncomfortable as Ferrari celebrated their latest F1 title in Budapest.

This has been the Scot's strongest and most consistent season in Formula One and yet he is still as far from the summit as he has even been.

Ahead of him, Michael Schumacher has almost doubled his number of points in 2001.

Behind there is Rubens Barrichello closing fast just in the battle to be championship runner-up.

Ralf Schumacher: putting in runner-up's challenge

And Ralf Schumacher is only seven points adrift with the BMW-friendly tracks at Spa and Monza just around the corner.

Even before the lights went out yesterday, Coulthard felt his McLaren miss a beat on the formation lap and feared the worst.

Confirmation came at the first corner where he was caught by Barrichello's Ferrari.

The problem with the fuel hose on his second pitstop, dropping him behind Barrichello again, only rammed home the point even more painfully.

Turning point

It was a snapshot of his season - a championship undermined by McLaren's uncharacteristic mechanical unreliability, no more so than at Monaco.

Instead of drawing level with Schumacher in the title race from pole position, Coulthard ended up losing ground because his car failed to start.

"I think things did start to turn from that point," the Scot admitted.

"Pole was probably the highlight of the year, even more than the victories because you really have to work very hard there and have total confidence in the car."

"That shows we had a good package, a car that at certain moments we've been able to extract a lot from."

"What we haven't had is that consistency. Ferrari have averaged out slightly better."

Ron Dennis: admits McLaren's mechanical shortcomings

Coulthard, however, refuses to blame McLaren for his frustrations - at least not publicly.

"Maybe when they were at a higher level, I wasn't up to it," he said.

"McLaren are a great team. We realise, though, that we haven't performed as well as Ferrari this year."

Coulthard's boss at McLaren, Ron Dennis, acknowledged the shortcomings.

"Sometimes the team can blame the drivers but this time I think the drivers can ask questions of the team," he said.

Certainly Hakkinen has been badly affected by the unreliability.

His form has never looked like touching the heights of the last few seasons.

He has finished less than half of the races this year.

Super Schumi

McLaren's misdemeanours, however, tell only half of the tale of 2001.

Hakkinen: poor finishing record this season

For the most part, Ferrari and Michael Schumacher have performed at the highest level.

"Michael is the benchmark in Formula One," admitted Coulthard.

"He's made good use of his car advantage but he is beatable and that's what we've got to focus on."

Coulthard said he sensed Ferrari's advantage even before a wheel had turned in anger.

Testing showed up problems which were mercilessly exposed by Ferrari in the opening races in Australia and Malaysia where Schumacher and Barrichello finished first and second.

McLaren's response took time to materialise but Coulthard kept picking up points and he won in Brazil and Austria.

But when he needed McLaren to be at the top of their game in Monaco, with Schumacher directly in his sights, the team scored a demoralising own goal.

And at the Hungaroring - Monaco without the barriers - Coulthard finally accepted the game was up for another year.

But as Ferrari celebrated with champagne from BAR - Ferrari failed to bring their own because they didn't want to risk disappointment - Coulthard sounded a familiar battle cry.

"I'm improving each year. I don't think that I have peaked this season.

"And we'll be fighting as hard as we can to take those championships back."