Slide leaves McLaren on the critical list

Although the house of Schumacher may be in turmoil this morning, the chances are the siblings will have made their peace come Sunday's French Grand Prix. McLaren-Mercedes are likely to have greater difficulty resolving their problems before the race.

The Schumacher schism, the consequence of Michael's contentious resistance to the start made by his brother, Ralf, in the Grand Prix of Europe here, deflected attention from McLaren's latest stumble.

However, Williams-BMW's very challenge to Ferrari indicated McLaren's demotion to third in Formula One's form table. If this trend continues, the constructors' championship may soon confirm the first major change at the head of the field since McLaren passed Williams on the way up three and a half years ago.

The next few days will be critical to McLaren's status and David Coulthard's prospect in the world drivers' championship. Unless the team can find a quick fix and arrest the slide at Magny-Cours, the Scotsman's title hopes will surely be damaged beyond repair.

He is 24 points behind Michael Schumacher, a deficit that would require a minimum of three races to make up, and only eight grands prix remain. Coulthard dug deep for words of defiance before leaving here, insisting all was not lost and that the French Grand Prix might be a different proposition for McLaren and for Williams.

"We are not allowed to test this week, but what we can do is analyse the data and try to work out where we can make the car more competitive," he said. "I'm certainly not analysing blow-by-blow the championship points situation. That serves no purpose at all.

"I can only do what I can do. I have had some good races at Magny-Cours and won there last year, so we have reason to believe we can go better than we did here.

"We are not going to sit back and feel sorry for ourselves, we're going to work hard to put things right. The championship is certainly not over." The ultimate responsibility for lifting McLaren out of their trough rests with Ron Dennis, the team principal. Coulthard was surprised to learn his boss claimed that "distractions" had contributed to recent below-par performances.

McLaren's public squabble with Jaguar over the long-term services of their technical director, Adrian Newey, dogged them before, during and after the Canadian Grand Prix, where Coulthard retired and Mika Hakkinen came in third, behind the Schumachers. Dennis said: "This is a tough business and if you get things slightly wrong you find you are not where you want to be. We have had things that have upset the harmony of the team. To have consistent results you need complete harmony.

"But it is ridiculous to say we are losing direction. We are determined and never panic. We are not hiding behind excuses. Our performance here was not good enough. It can only improve through our own efforts. We are confident we can get better results with the package we have."

The Williams-BMW camp are not about to boast they have the beating of McLaren. They are adamant the Dennis operation "will be back". Michael Schumacher, however, believes the evidence now points to a reds v blue and whites fight through the second half of the season.

That, in turn, suggests more uncomfortably close encounters with his brother and perhaps also with Juan Pablo Montoya, who was a grateful second here, a result which stemmed the flow of criticism levelled at him over previous weeks.

Ralf's stop-and-go penalty took the pressure off his brother on Sunday, but Coulthard's acknowledged that luck alone cannot explain the champion's 49 wins in Formula One. The elder Schumacher's ambition knows no bounds, nor even family ties.

Coulthard said: "You can't take away from the success Michael's had. He's highly motivated and he's worked hard at it. He's not always had it his way." Dennis pointed out that Schumacher's ability to pull out a super-fast lap in qualifying regularly earns him a crucial advantage. The German has seven poles from nine races this season.

Coulthard still has a chance of winning the championship, but Hakkinen is transparently out of it and he made little attempt to hide his disenchantment here. "Overall I'm disappointed," he said.

Dennis says he feels under no pressure to announce his driver line-up for next year because he has options on both Coulthard and Hakkinen. Rumours persist, however, that the Finn is not convinced he wants to carry on after this season.

Jenson Button is another driver whose future is the subject of rampant speculation. The young Englishman has been linked with Prost, Jaguar, Jordan and Toyota, who make their debut next season.

Button has struggled since being released by Williams to join Benetton on a two-year contract and, although his present employers deny any plans to offload him, it is understood they have spoken to other teams.

One stumbling block could be Williams' contractual hold on Button, but then they may not have an opening for him in 2003. Ralf Schumacher has signed a deal that keeps him with the team until 2004 and Montoya now has the opportunity to secure the second seat beyond next year.