BBC SPORT | FORMULA ONE | Coulthard admits McLaren mistakes

David Coulthard believes McLaren have made mistakes that could have already handed the world championship to Michael Schumacher.

The Ferrari driver has opened up a 31-point lead in the driver's standings and Coulthard knows that a win in Sunday's British Grand Prix is vital if he is to stay in contention.

The Scot is chasing a third successive win at Silverstone but is not optimistic that the gap to Ferrari can be closed in time for him to catch the world champion.

In our quest to make things better we miss things and make mistakes

David Coulthard

"You either do a job that is deserving of the title or you don't and at the moment we are not and we know we need to improve," he said.

Coulthard has not won since the Austrian Grand Prix in May as McLaren have suffered reliability problems, and he believes there is little he can do about Schumacher until the team get the car right.

"The easiest way to win is to have the best car and to perform," said Coulthard. "But as long as I know that I'm giving 100 per cent then I'll take the positives out of (my situation).

"I can't do anything about the car. I can't try and solve it because it is not my speciality. You need to rely on the people around you and then things will get better.

David Coulthard
Coulthard's last win was in Austria two months ago
"In our quest to make things better we miss things and make mistakes. We are only human, it is a human sport despite all the technology that is involved.

"I'm not any harder on the people who have made mistakes than I need to be because we can all make mistakes."

With seven races remaining time is running out for Coulthard, but he insists that there is no more pressure on him this weekend despite Schumacher's lead in the world championship.

"Naturally, it is deflating to see the gap increasing, but because I wasn't looking at the points gap when it was four points, I haven't noticed so much that it has gone up," he said.

"You either win or you lose. If I lose the championship it can be by 60 points - it doesn't matter if you've lost by a couple of points because it has still happened."


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