Mika still on equal footing with DC, says McLaren

Unlike its rivals at Ferrari, who give priority treatment to Michael Schumacher, the McLaren-Mercedes team has always had a strict policy of no team orders until it becomes impossible for one driver to win the championship, and Whitmarsh says this year will be no different.

"In principle we will not ask one driver to drive in a supporting role to the other until he has no chance of winning the title," Whitmarsh told the Guradian newspaper. "However, I think when you get to a point where, to all intents and purposes, our second driver in the championship placings has no longer got a reasonable chance, then we will obviously call team orders."

Hakkinen has had his worse start to a championship challenge for five years. After five races he lies 24 points behind second-placed Coulthard and 32 behind leader Schumacher on a meagre four points.

To make matters worse, he was cruelly robbed of certain victory by a clutch failure on the last lap of Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. Coulthard, meanwhile, managed to salvage two points from fifth place after a software glitch put him to the back of the grid at the start.

On paper, Hakkinen's hopes of taking this year's title are fading fast. But despite describing them as "pretty sad at the moment", the 32-year-old refuses to give up.

"I still believe I can win the championship," he said. "I just have to count the points all the time and then when I have no mathematical chance of winning, we will have to change to a different target. Until then I will have to push and fight as hard as I can."

Meanwhile, former McLaren driver and Grand Prix winner John Watson has branded McLaren boss Ron Dennis as 'stupid' for accusing Coulthard of 'brain fade' for the problem which put him at the back of the grid in Barcelona. Dennis later retracted his comments, but Watson believes the jibe is indicative of the Scot's position within the team.

"It was both an unprofessional and stupid thing for Ron to do," Watson told The Sun newspaper. "He should have thought things through and found the real cause before shooting from the lip. He would not have said those words had it been Mika.

"But it is no secret Mika has always been Ron's blue-eyed boy. His actions on Sunday merely confirmed that David is employed as a second driver who is expected to do the best job possible. Yet David has the potential to be world champion, because he is driving better than ever."