Coulthard aims to kick-start title bid

Coulthard, who is yet to finish a race this year, has fallen 14 points behind reigning world champion Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) going into this Sunday's third round. The Scot is confident that his McLaren team, and engine partner Mercedes, have got to the root of their reliability problems to give him the chance to repeat his victory of 12 months ago.

"Although I have had a difficult start to the 2002 season, the West McLaren Mercedes team does have a package that is capable of winning races," said Coulthard. "We have all been working hard to increase reliability. Of course, the desired outcome for me in Brazil would be a repeat of last year's result, however, I am primarily focused on opening my points tally for 2002."

McLaren's managing director Martin Whitmarsh said: "We have been working hard to marry competitive performance with reliability. We have again demonstrated in testing this week at Barcelona that we have the capability to achieve the complete package, and we now must translate this into the race environment in Brazil."

Mercedes came in for some strong criticism in the wake of its double blow-ups at Sepang a fortnight ago, but dual programmes in Stuttgart and Ilmor's Brixworth factory should mean an improvement ahead of Sunday's race.

"Following the engine failures in the last grand prix, our main target was to achieve reliability again," said Mercedes-Benz motorsport vice-president Norbert Haug.