I need time to regroup, says Coulthard

Coulthard saw his slim title chances diminish even further at Hockenheim on Sunday when the Mercedes engine of his McLaren failed just after his pit stop near half distance of the German Grand Prix.

The Scot has just five races in which to overturn Schumacher's 37 point lead, and says the team needs to come back with a strong strategy of how it will tackle the final races of the season.

"I feel that I kind of need the break in a way, to stop and restart," he said. "The races have been coming, coming, coming. Maybe as a team we need to see exactly what we can test and what we can develop to work out how we can go forward in the last five Grands Prix.

"I've still got promotions until Friday, and that'll eat into the time available - the flight and travelling and all the rest of it, that's the other side of the business, which is very draining you know."

Coulthard says that he is feeling the effects of the Grand Prix season, and says a chest infection, as well as a lack of pace from his machinery, has hindered his form.

"It takes it out of you emotionally and physically," he admitted. "Just pre-Monaco I had a bit of a chest infection which I carried right through until after Canada. That sort of lost the momentum of training, which I'm slowly getting back into.

"But you need to have the levels of energy to keep pushing hard every weekend, and to enable you to ride over the disappointments. So when you're not quite in top form, all those disappointments take more out of you."

For a full David Coulthard Q&A, click HERE.