Monday June 5th, 2000

David Coulthard's accomplished win in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix proved Michael Schumacher's charge towards Ferrari's first drivers' world title in 21 years can be halted, McLaren team chief Ron Dennis said.

Coulthard won after both Schumacher and Jordan's Jarno Trulli had been forced to retire with mechanical failures. It was the first car failure for Schumacher -- an overheating exhaust pipe cracked and then caused a suspension pushrod to break -- since he broke his leg at the British Grand Prix last year when his Ferrari's brakes failed.

Dennis, however, preferred not to see Coulthard's second win this year and the eighth of his career as a result of the German's rare mechanical misfortunes but of his driver's excellence and Schumacher pushing his car too hard.

"You've got to say it was the result of over-pushing," said Dennis. "I have a tremendous respect for Michael but he doesn't walk on water."

Coulthard's win ahead of Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in the second Ferrari and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella in a Benetton hoisted the Scot to second behind Schumacher in the title race.

Schumacher has 46 points after seven rounds of this year's 17-race series and Coulthard 34.

Mika Hakkinen, Coulthard's McLaren teammate and defending world champion, is third with 29 points after collecting one more point for finishing sixth.

Hakkinen's race, from fifth on the grid, was blighted by brakes and gearbox problems but the Finn clocked the fastest lap in the closing stages when, as Dennis said, both Trulli and his Jordan team mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen had fallen by the wayside after holding them up.

McLaren's win was a record 11th for the team in Monaco in their 499th grand prix and prompted Dennis to say his team deserved greater recognition than it had received during Schumacher's runaway start to the year.

"On the one hand you could say Michael had a suspension failure while leading the race but if you are thinking that way you've got to look back at the two races we were leading in Melbourne and in Brazil and say they would have been comfortable victories for us," Dennis said.

"You can't look at any races in isolation when you are trying to see how points have evolved. It was also quite important to us that we had the fastest car out there once we were free of the Jordan 'chicanes'.

"David's drive was faultless from beginning to end and a very well executed pit-stop -- I don't think most people grabbed how smooth and quick it was at 7.7 seconds -- also played a major part."

Coulthard's win pushed McLaren into close contention again in the constructors' title contest in which Ferrari lead with 68 points to McLaren's 63.

"We have given away five points in the constructors' championship but we are still in the lead," Ferrari's sporting director Jean Todt said.

"I said right from the beginning of this weekend that the start and reliability would be two very important points. One of these factors did not work in our favour."

For Coulthard, notably, this win appeared to supply a massive confidence boost and the Scot said he felt he had no psychological disadvantage in racing against two double world champions for the title.

He said he always felt he could beat both Schumacher and Hakkinen but would let results dictate the outcome.