Struggling Coulthard Downbeat after Qualifying

David Coulthard's hopes of a victory that could allow him to move closer to Championship rival Michael Schumacher received another blow on Saturday as the Scot endured a disappointing qualifying for the German Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver, who struggled to keep the pace of the leaders during the free practice sessions at the Hockenheim circuit, continued to have problems with his car's handling and finished the day in a low fifth place, almost 1.5 seconds off pole and a massive seven tenths behind his teammate Mika Hakkinen.

Coulthard, who lies 37 points behind Championship leader Michael Schumacher with only six races remaining, was downbeat after today's result.

"I'm disappointed with today's performance," said Coulthard. "My engineers and I have struggled with a balance problem, which caused my car to oversteer pretty badly. It also meant that one of my rear tyres blistered during my second run.

"I didn't do my last run as I saw yellow flags being waved and my engineers wished to conserve my fourth set of tyres. We will work hard to find a solution so we can be competitive in the race."

Finn Hakkinen was much happier than his teammate after being the quickest of the Bridgestone runners. The two-time champion, winner of the British Grand Prix two weeks ago, admitted he got the best out of his McLaren to finish in third place.

"I'm pleased with today's performance as we got the best out of the car and I'm the fastest of the Bridgestone runners. I had a problem during this morning's practice and lost some running time. However the team still did an excellent job and improved the car throughout practice.

"The team decided to abort the third run and conserve tyres when they realised I was able to hold my third position. Now I look forward to the race."