Formula 1: Coulthard still a threat - Schu

Michael Schumacher is refusing to write off David Coulthard as a title threat despite opening up his biggest advantage over the Scot in their championship battle.

The Ferrari driver leads Coulthard by 18 points with the 17-race season almost half-over after his McLaren rival failed to finish a race for the first time this year in Canada last Sunday.

Schumacher believes Coulthard is still the only man with a realistic chance of preventing him from successfully defending his drivers’ crown even though he was beaten into second place by his brother Ralf in Montreal.

‘‘We still have nine races to go, many points to be given, so I am not comfortable at all,’’ said the German.

‘‘There is still far too long to go in the championship for it to be over.

‘‘Even though I am roughly 30 points ahead of Ralf it still can mean that he is able to win the championship, although I believe that the main rivalry is between David and myself.’’

Schumacher, who tested in Silverstone last week ahead of next month’s British Grand Prix, believes Coulthard has been ‘lucky’ so far this season in going until the eighth race before failing to score when his Mercedes engine blew-up.

‘‘You have to live with that, its part of racing and I would not call it frustrating,’’ added the triple champion of Coulthard’s set-back.

‘‘It goes around and comes around. One day you suffer, the next day suffers another one.

‘‘David has been in that perspective lucky this year as he has always been in the points, not having a single failure so far. He had the start problems twice, but no points was the first time and that’s pretty unusual.’’

Coulthard is unlikely to see it that way with last Sunday’s engine failure after he also found a loose suspension nut in his cockpit coming after he started two races in three from the back of the grid when his computer software failed.

Schumacher and his younger brother look set for a hero’s welcome when they return to the Nurburgring, just a short drive from the old family home in Kerpen, for next Sunday’s European Grand Prix.

The 32-year-old insists he was not disappointed at being beaten into second place for the first time in a straight fight by his junior sibling.

And though he does not expect Ralf to mount a serious title challenge this year is already seeing the day when he will be fighting with him for the ultimate prize in motor racing.

‘‘Points-wise I was in a good position as David didn’t finish the race so there was only joy for Ralf that he had won the race,’’ after the duo became the first brothers in history to finish first and second.

‘‘It was not the first time I finished behind him, even in F1, but for sure I am not disappointed, because I have achieved a lot in F1 and so I can be more relaxed.

‘‘In Canada I knew he was faster, he was stronger, he tried several times to overtake and was very clever to not risk too much as he knew about his chances later in the race.

‘‘This tactics, this fighting, this nearly-overtaking I enjoyed that a lot. And I think he liked that the same.’’

Schumacher added: ‘‘Obviously I believe in my brother because I have seen him growing up and later winning the F3000 in Japan, which is a very difficult series. And I have seen him doing good in F1 as well.

‘‘Sometimes up to now he has been a bit unlucky, like in Nurburgring two years ago, when he had a puncture while leading the race.

‘‘Things like this have indicated to me that he has a great talent, but you also need a car. And now BMW and Williams have given him a package which sometimes he can win with.

‘‘Wait a little bit more, until the car is even more reliable, then he will be very dangerous for us.’’

Schumacher insists he will have no problem should he lose his crown as the world’s best driver to his 26-year-old sibling whose two career victories still leave him 46 adrift of his brother.

‘‘I have achieved a lot, everything which comes additionally is fine, what doesn’t come is fine also. I can accept this very easily,’’ he said.

‘‘Then you have to see the fact that I have been there when Ralf was doing Go-Kart. I have been his mechanic, I worked very close with him in these years, and I always wanted him to do well.

‘‘Now he’s doing so fantastically well, so to some degree you can see it like this: If he wins, I win.’’