Mercedes heaps praise on Coulthard

The result followed hot on the heels of the McLaren ace's Monaco GP win and has moved him to within a point in the world championship of Williams duo Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher, who lie second to dominant Ferrari star Michael Schumacher.

Mercedes, McLaren's engine partner, has been accused this year of being down on power, but Haug feels that the season is turning round for the team. The Montreal track is known as one of Formula 1's power circuits and McLaren was expected to struggle there.

Haug told The Guardian: "David has done a great job. He has proved he is able to produce good results under pressure. He showed his class [on Sunday] when he had to fight off [Rubens] Barrichello. Our whole performance is getting better."

Although Schumacher's championship lead of 43 points over the Williams drivers looks impossible to claw back, Coulthard has indicated that he is hopeful of at least scoring more wins in the remaining nine races. After Monaco, McLaren's technical director Adrian Newey admitted that he was "not counting on [taking] another win".

But in the wake of Canada, Coulthard said: "I think Montreal showed that, in certain circumstances, a dominant team can still be beaten. I recall when McLaren were a lot more competitive than they are now [but] there was the odd race where we were comprehensively beaten. It just shows that nothing can be taken for granted in a GP season."