Coulthard frustrated again

The Scot looked to be on his way when he overcame early troubles to recording two laps that were faster than anything that had gone before.

But his dream lasted little more than 20 minutes as Hakkinen coolly snatched the top spot and left him in second place for the fourth time in nine races.

'It would have been nice to be on pole, ' he said.

'I know we could have done a better job because we were fast over the first and last sector but not the middle one.

'Even so we can potentially have a great race tomorrow.'

Although he won the last round of the championship almost a fortnight ago at Silverstone, the Scot has not been on pole since June last year at the Canadian Grand Prix.

'Some circuits are forgiving when you run wide and this is one of them because, for a lot of corners, you are not maximum on the brakes on entry or maximum on power on the exit, so the chance of a mistake is smaller,' said Coulthard.

'I went in after the first lap because I had a small technical problem and I wanted to go back in and do a small re-set which we did. Then I went for it.

'The last run set-up wasn't as good as the first two. I didn't feel as confident to attack on the corners.

'I feel confident for the race. I have been happy with the car all weekend and its in great shape for the race.

'If I have reliability it will be very close between the two McLarens and maybe Ferrari. It will come down to pitstops, strategy and position on the track.'