Like Coulthard, Schumacher is likely to need a new team in 2005

Coulthard is looking for a new drive after McLaren decided to replace him with Juan Pablo Montoya but said his plans do not depend on Schumacher.

"It's one thing that's accepted up and down the pit lane as a done deal, but it hasn't been announced.

"I think it's happened - isn't that what we all think? - but I don't know 100%," Coulthard told Motorsport News.

Schumacher insists publicly he is still in negotiations with Williams and that no deal has been done with another team.

But it is widely known that he and Williams are far apart on their opinions of what he should be paid if he was to do a new deal.

And the team are expected to end up recruiting two new drivers in 2005.

Coulthard, who has been linked to drives at Jaguar and Williams next season, said he was "happy with the direction things are going" in his talks with other teams.

We're sitting watching guys who are really competitive doing three or four times as many laps as us David Coulthard

Jaguar driver Mark Webber is believed to be at the top of Williams' list, with former world champion Jacques Villeneuve also in with a chance.

Williams technical director Patrick Head has told the Guardian newspaper that he and team owner Frank Williams have had talks with the Canadian.

Meanwhile, Coulthard called for a re-think on rules that allow F1's bottom six teams to run a third car on Fridays at a Grand Prix weekend.

The Scot says the system should be re-evaluated after each race to prevent teams like BAR from gaining a significant performance advantage.

"That rule shouldn't be fixed for the entire year," Coulthard said.

"BAR have established themselves as the second or third best team but they can still run a third car all year.

"We can't do much running on Fridays any more - but we're sitting watching guys who are really competitive doing three or four times as many laps as us."

McLaren stalled in F1 slow lane

McLaren are struggling badly this season and would benefit from a third car, which is not restricted by the rule that allows race drivers to use only one engine per race weekend.