Coulthard can give Schu the boot

DAVID Coulthard's bid to win the Formula One championship has received increased support from rival teams, despite him falling a further four points behind leader Michael Schumacher after last week's European Grand Prix.

Williams technical director Patrick Head has joined Jordan team boss Eddie Jordan in openly backing Coulthard to win the drivers' title this season.

"I think he (Coulthard) is still in a very good position," Head said.

"Obviously McLaren have had some problems this year but I think Coulthard is a much stronger driver than he was, as he has earned a bit of mental toughness and a bit more fluidity in some of his drives than before ... so I think he's in there with a shout."Schumacher goes into this weekend's French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours with a 24-point lead over Coulthard in the drivers' standings, after the Scot came within four points of the world champion following the Austrian GP.

It was at this stage of the championship last year that Schumacher's push for the title came temporarily unstuck when he failed to finish several events in a row.

Coulthard is the defending champion at Magny-Cours and will be hoping for a repeat of last year after struggling to keep pace with Ferrari and Williams at the Nurburgring.

But McLaren does not have a great record at the French circuit, having won there only five times compared to 11 wins for Ferrari and seven for Williams. Before Coulthard's win last year, McLaren was last on top of the podium in 1989.

Schumacher has won the race four times out of the past seven and is also closing in on Alain Prost's record of grand prix wins.

The German driver secured his 49th win from 154 starts with victory in last week's European GP and is now just two wins shy of Prost's outright record of 51 wins from 199 races.

The grand prix schedule usually gives teams a break of at least one weekend between races, allowing time to strip the cars down and rebuild engines and gearboxes for the next event.

For the 10th round at Magny-Cours there is just a four-day gap. The cars were loaded into trucks straight after the Nurburgring race for the journey from Germany to France.

Located near Nevers in central France, Magny-Cours is the smoothest of all the circuits, with top class pit facilities.

It is full of slow turns and hairpins but many fans find little to get excited about as it poses few challenges for the drivers.

French GP telecast - Nine Network, Sunday July 1, 11.05pm AEST (check your local guides) Race distance is 72 laps or 305.886 km.

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 M Schumacher 68
2 Coulthard 44
3 Barrichello 26
4 R Schumacher 25
5 Montoya 12
6 Hakkinen 9
7 Heidfeld 8
=8 Trulli 7
=8 Villeneuve 7
=8 Raikkonen 7