Dennis praises Coulthard's bravery

A nut came off Coulthard's front suspension just before the start of the race and he was given the opportunity to pit early, but he chose to continue racing despite the risk of the suspension breaking completely around the high speed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

"I was very impressed with the way David handled the situation," said Dennis. "To have a problem like he had, to continue to race and maintain a strong pace requires a mixture of courage and tenacity.

"He discussed the matter rationally with the team as he drove around and then announced he would continue in the race."

Despite his suspension problems, Coulthard was looking strong to score at least three if not four world championship points until his engine blew in the closing stages. But McLaren's leading points scorer this season was more modest about his efforts, saying: "Winning a championship is all about trying to score points on bad days and it almost paid off. It was worth the gamble."

As the Silver Arrows team heads to Silverstone for a three-day testing session, efforts will be concentrated on finding what caused the problems on Coulthard's MP4-16. Dennis maintains he does not yet know whether it was mechanical failure or human error, but claims the team won't be forced into a quick-fix solution.

"In these situations, the worst thing you can do is panic," he said. "We have to track down the problem, understand it and put it right. At this stage we don't know whether the problems with David's car were caused by human error, a mechanical or assembly problem.

"People have written off McLaren and other teams before and then something comes together. The distance between hero and zero in this sport in not very far."