Schumacher attacks Coulthard tactics

The double champion lashed out after he came up to lap the Scot and accused the McLaren racer and his team of using unfair tactics as he finished second to Mika Hakkinen after a fumbled start caused by technical problems.

The gap between Schumacher and Hakkinen increased by 3.6 seconds to 9.9 seconds after the Scot held the Ferrari driver up on lap 36.

His comments come just two weeks after Schumacher himself held Hakkinen up for a large section of the race as Irvine raced away to victory.

'Mika is a great champion,' said Schumacher.

'He was made champion today by winning the race and there is no reason why he should not celebrate that 100 per cent, but the team should wonder why they ask the driver to do such things.

'It was a different thing In Malaysia I was racing for position and not being lapped [by Hakkinen] then you can play tactics but if you are lapped you should give space.

'David passed many blue flags, he had a kind of problem, but he was really zig-zagging I am not sure whether I should believe Spa was intentional the way he behaved today.

'I didn't expect him to do such a thing when it was clear he was out of the race. I am very disappointed seeing a manoeuvre from a guy you do not expect to do such things.

'I was already challenging Mika, had a difficult first part of the race because I had more fuel on board and the handling wasn't perfect.

'But then I started catching Mika and I was four seconds behind him and it would have been a very close race towards the end but this situation cost be about 10 seconds at the end.

'I am very disappointed. But at least we have won the constructors' championship which is fantastic for the team and the fans.'

Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher launched an attack on David Coulthard following the Japanese Grand Prix.