Coulthard Hungary for win

THE pressure is on McLaren's David Coulthard to win this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring if he is to keep his world title dreams alive.

After his consistent early season form, when he scored two victories and finished in the points in each of the first seven races, the Scot has failed to finish the past two events and is being challenged by Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello for second place on the drivers' points table.

Coulthard must win if he is to make any impact on the huge 37-point lead held by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and at the same time hope the German fails to finish for the second race in a row.

With just five rounds to go in this year's championship, the 13th round in Hungary has the potential to decide the title. A win for the Ferrari champion would hand him a fourth drivers' trophy as well as see him equal Alain Prost's all-time race win record of 51 grand prix victories.

Ferrari could also close out the constructors' title at this event if Schumacher and Barrichello can build on the 58-point lead the team has over McLaren.

The McLaren team needs the points on two fronts firstly to keep Ferrari within view and also to hang on to second place in the constructors' championship, with the resurgent Williams team trailing McLaren by just 10 points.

McLaren's record at Hungaroring over the past few years is impressive with Mika Hakkinen securing consecutive victories in 1999 and 2000, while Coulthard finished on the podium on both occasions as well.

Williams' lead driver Ralf Schumacher also has a good record at the Hungarian circuit, finishing each of his four races at the track. But the narrow, tight circuit will probably not suit the BMW/Williams package, which performs better on the fast, flowing tracks.

A repeat of Williams' dominant performance at the last round, with Juan Pablo Montoya taking pole position and Ralf Schumacher the race win, may have to wait until the F1 circus moves to Spa Francorchamps and Monza in the coming weeks.

* Hungaroring is about km north-east of Budapest and is set in a natural amphitheatre, winding its way in and out of a valley. It is one of the slowest circuits on the calendar, with overtaking virtually impossible due to the track being narrow with many slow corners.

Circuit length is 3.975km with the race run over 77 laps for a total distance of 306.075km.

Michael Schumacher holds the lap record of 1 minute 19.286 seconds, set in a Ferrari in 1998, while last year's podium comprised Hakkinen, Schumacher and Coulthard.

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 M Schumacher (GER) 84
2 Coulthard (SCO) 47
3 R Schumacher (GER) 41
4 Barrichello (BRA) 40
5 Hakkinen (FIN) 19
6 Montoya (COL) 15
7 Villeneuve (CAN) 11
8 Heidfeld (GER) 10
=9 Raikkonen (FIN) 9
=9 Trulli (ITA) 9