DC content with second

The Scot ended the day praising the McLaren-Mercedes team he had rounded on 24 hours earlier for choosing the wrong tyre strategy in qualifying. Coulthar got better of both rivals for second place in the championship as Rubens Barrichello finished fifth and Ralf Schumacher was a troubled - and pointless - seventh.

Coulthard, who crashed in the very first practice session on Friday, stretched another four points ahead of the Brazilian and six away from the Williams driver, who is likely to be his biggest rival in the final three races.

"Obviously I am happy with the result, but it doesn't look quite as good as it sounds because a lot of cars dropped out," said the Scot. "But I still had a little bit of fun. Second place in these circumstances is absolutely the best could hope for.

"I'm pretty happy considering the way my weekend started and the way qualifying went," continued Coulthard. "At the end the guys gave me a reliable car and that's very important."

Coulthard praised the Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella, with whom he scrapped for much of the race -despite Coulthard being splattered with oil when was stuck behind the Italian in the battle for second place.

"I've never seen so much oil on my car since Le Mans and that's a 24-hour race," said Coulthard. "It was quite incredible. It must have a big old oil tank. I had to continually wipe the visor. It is obviously a bit of a distraction if it happens in the middle of a corner because you have to wait for a little bit to clean it, but is just part of racing.

"It was a new helmet, so that's destroyed," he quipped.

Fisichella got the jump on the Scot and two other cars when he leapt from sixth to second at the final re-start. But Coulthard hounded him before snatching second in the run up to Les Combes.

"Spa is a track where if you have a bad qualifying session you can still overtake because of the fast section at Eau Rouge, and if a driver has a small lift there it gives you momentum to get past," explained DC. "I was able to overtake both Jenson and Giancarlo.

"Giancarlo and I were both going quite a pace I have to say," he added. "The Renault has taken quite a step forward since the beginning of the season. Giancarlo had an amazing race. His car worked better than it has all season and it was quick in the rights areas.

"Thankfully a backmarker came out of the pits and upset his rhythm so I got a run at him through Eau Rouge and out-braked him. Bearing in mind the weekend I had I am very happy to get second place.

"I am pleased to have extended the points over Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher and consolidated second place in the championship."

Coulthard now has 57 points in second place, Barrichello 48 and Schumacher junior 44.