DC under attack again from Eddie

And this time he's re-opened his war of words with McLaren rival David Coulthard.

The Ulsterman, who won the last round of the world championship in Austria, said he could beat the Scot 'any day of the week.'

'I would have been very surprised if we could have beaten them in qualifying but in the race it was a lot closer," he said.

'Obviously Mika was flying and if it was a straight fight it would have been a bit difficult to beat him.

'But I think we could have beaten DC any day of the week - so that's half of the McLaren stable beaten.'

The criticisms follow Coulthard's misery over the race because it was his mistake in punting his team-mate off at the second bend that let Irvine in to score a memorable victory.

Irvine slated the Scot two months ago as he chased the chance of stepping into the second seat alongside Mika Hakkinen.

But his comments bought a stinging rebuke from McLaren boss Ron Dennis and Coulthard fired back, 'I am more afraid of Eddie's mouth than his driving.'