Formula 1: Hakkinen set to obey team orders

Mika Hakkinen has paved the way for McLaren to order him to support David Coulthard for the rest of the season after admitting his own challenge was a ‘‘disaster’’ area.

The Finn all but wrote off his title hopes after suffering his fourth retirement of the season in yesterday’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Hakkinen is now 36 points behind second-placed Coulthard and an incredible 48 adrift of Ferrari’s title pacesetter Michael Schumacher a margin no driver has overcome in title history.

‘‘If I think about my hopes for the championship then it looks like a disaster,’’ admitted the disappointed McLaren-Mercedes driver after bowing out in Monte Carlo with a mechanical problem while lying second behind Schumacher.

‘‘I cannot find the words to say how I feel after having one problem after another this season. I just cannot describe my feelings and how disappointed I am.’’

The two-time world champion has scored just four points this year and is back in 13th spot in the championship standings.

Schumacher confirmed what just about everybody else in the paddock believes, that the 32-year-old is not going to figure in the title chase, after his win.

‘‘I thought so after the last race in Austria, but I know so now that Mika is not a contender and David is my main rival,’’ said the German.

‘‘David has been very consistent this year. It is going to be an interesting battle with him for the rest of the season.’’

Coulthard has finished in the points in all seven races so far this season and would surely have given Schumacher a real street fight yesterday if his launch control system has not failed while he was on pole.

The 30-year-old scrambled fifth place despite being stuck behind the Arrows of Enrique Bernoldi for half of the 78-lap race.

But Coulthard will head for the next race in Canada on Sunday week having seen Schumacher open up a sizeable lead of 12 points after his fifth victory in Monaco.

Coulthard will need to be able to count on the support of Hakkinen who is surely facing pay-back time for the aid he received from his team-mate during his title winning years in 1998 and 1999.

McLaren will also surely have to conduct an urgent investigation into the gremlins in their launch control system which has failed for three successive races.

The latest setback after the team confidently predicted the problems had been sorted out was overlooked in the post-race spat involving boss Ron Dennis, Bernoldi and Arrows chief Tom Walkinshaw.

Coulthard has now suffered from problems not of his own making twice in those three races Hakkinen was primarily at fault in Austria and the points he has lost could prove costly to his title dream at the end of the campaign.