Coulthard targets strong finish

The Scot has struggled to come to terms with one-lap qualifying this year and has no chance of winning this year's championship. His team-mate Kimi Raikkonen is fighting for the championship with Michael Schumacher and in recent weeks, speculation has mounted that DC may be replaced by Juan Pablo Montoya in 2005.

"This weekend brought to a head a lot of speculation and rumour and I think the team have made a reasonable step towards removing any doubt," said Coulthard. "So hopefully we can concentrate on using the break to get some good training in and get some good pace in the coming races.

"I want a strong finish to the season. There are four opportunities to have a strong finish and that's what I am going to try and do. The talk is just speculation. There are obviously rumours for '05 but that's '05. Let's get on into next year, finish this year as strong as we can and build towards a championship challenge for '04."

There are suggestions, however, that Coulthard may have to accept a clause in his contract that states if he does not perform satisfactorily during the course of next year then the team will have the option of replacing or moving him to another team before the end of the campaign.

Team boss Ron Dennis said: "We know where we are going, we know what we're doing and we know when we are going to do it. And when we're ready, we'll share it with you."

Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug added: "We can only tell you the facts when we're ready and when we're not ready and things are not fixed its useless to discuss all the different possibilities. That's why we ask your understanding that it's going to take another three to four weeks until we know."