Coulthard knew his race was over

'We were told that there would be no restart so I knew I was finished,' said Coulthard, who has indicated that the startline incident was due to a mechanical problem. 'Once we got the car going it was quick, but we had to treat the afternoon as a test session. Then the gearbox seemed to explode.'

'I had the car held on the brake, the gear was engaged and it just stopped immediately.'

The suggestions that Coulthard could have won the race were refuted. The McLaren driver lost a lap when his car stalled, but once going, was equal on pace with the winning car of team-mate Mika Hakkinen.

Some had suggested that had Coulthard retained his second place in the race, he would have been ideally placed to take over when Hakkinen faltered due to a gearbox problem of the order that put Coulthard out.

'In a normal situation it would have been game over,' Hakkinen confirmed after the race, indicating just how lucky he was not to suffer Coulthard's fate. 'It just happened that one time going up through the gears. I've never experienced anything like that in all my career.