Coulthard Warns of Ferrari Comeback

David Coulthard has warned McLaren not to underestimate World Champion Michael Schumacher - and said the German will hit back after missing out on a podium finish for the second race in succession in Malaysia on Sunday.

McLaren have shot into the Championship lead after Coulthard won the season-opening race in Australia and teammate Kimi Raikkonen secured his maiden victory in Kuala Lumpur. But the Scot admitted Schumacher, who clashed with Jarno Trulli's Renault on the first lap in Malaysia, will be so incensed by his early season jitters that he could rocket back to form at the next race in Brazil in two week's time.

"If Michael had not had that incident it might not have been that easy," said Coulthard of Raikkonen's maiden victory. "He has got to play catch-up now and he is in an unusual situation - but you never underestimate him.

"Just because he is having problems now it doesn't mean he won't bounce back in Brazil in a dominant performance. If their car is quicker than us there then winning the race will be fairly straightforward for them.

"We are still slower over Ferrari in a single lap in certain circumstances, but we have a good race car and we need to keep scoring the points the next few races until the new car comes."

McLaren, who are currently using a development of their 2002 car, aim to take advantage of their early-season pace before Ferrari introduce their new machine, the F2003-GA, when the F1 arrives in Europe. The Woking-based outfit have delayed the introduction of their own new car to maximise its development so they have a chance of ending Ferrari's dominance this year.

Although Coulthard is concerned about an imminent Schumacher come back, the Scot believes McLaren could have a chance of Championship success this season if they can keep Schumacher on the back foot.

"It's two races and two mistakes for Michael now," said Coulthard. "This just confirms what we have all said - if you put him under pressure he does make mistakes. We need to hope he keeps doing that."

McLaren, however, are currently prone to making mistakes themselves and, while slick Italians Ferrari continue their metronomic reliability, McLaren proved they still have work to do.

Coulthard, who retired on the fourth lap of the race with an electronic problem, admitted he is concerned that, at this vital early stage of the season, his team's constant problems with reliability could prove their Achille's heel.

He criticised the team after the race, saying their performance was "not good enough" to take on Ferrari and claimed their failure prevented him from beating Raikkonen to victory at Sepang and securing a one-two for the team.

"I could have won that race," he said. "I don't want to take anything away from Kimi's performance but it would have been pretty easy. I have got every reason to think I would have finished in front of him.

"I could have romped it and it would have been an easy one-two for McLaren but, as has happened so many times before when we have had good podium position on the track, the car failed.

"Ferrari have got amazing reliability but we are a bit marginal and we have been for some time now. You never quite know if we are going to make it (to the end) and that's not a good position to be in."