DC: Monaco not my greatest race

"I don't honestly think it was one of my strongest races," he said in Montreal, ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix. "That's possibly down to Monaco being the type of circuit that it is. It's not one of those places where you can push to the maximum. You have to be always one percent below where you think you could be or else you will hit barriers.

"It was probably a drive of maturity, put it like that. But a really satisfying race is one where you push 100 percent all the way, pass people and then come out winning. And I can think of races like that." Magny Cours in 2000 was one such.

Coulthard knows that Montreal provides a very different challenge but with Mercedes coming to Canada with a horsepower step for its V10, he did not rule out a stronger performance than some are predicting.

"Monaco we expected to be our best opportunity in the first half of the season," the Scot confirmed. "We knew that the car had more downforce and you hang all your wing on in Monte Carlo. Naturally we won't expect to be as strong here, but we have a bit more horsepower and we're not sure exactly where our performance level will be.

"We'll be very surprised if we are on the front row but other than that it's hard to say. Brakes are important here and have been one of McLaren strengths over the past few years."