Coulthard fumes as Schumacher gets touchy

Michael Schumacher, for all his skill at the wheel of a racing car, is still capable of opening his mouth before engaging his brain.

It might yet foil his hopes of becoming Ferrari's first world champion for more than two decades, even though he moved eight points clear of Mika Hakkinen with his victory in the United States Grand Prix on Sunday.

His unnecessary - many would argue ungallant - verbal snipe that David Coulthard was out of order during their early overtaking fight at the Brickyard at Indianapolis has served merely to make the Scot more determined to put the proverbial spoke in Schumacher's wheel in the remaining two races in Japan and Malaysia.

Coulthard can no longer win the world title . . . but he is still in a position to determine who does. One suspects he will be keener than ever to support his McLaren-Mercedes team-mate Hakkinen and scupper the German for once more calling his ethics into question.

Schumacher, who accused Coulthard of trying to kill him in a wet race at Spa two years ago, claimed he was put into danger again, saying:'Although David was not really in the championship, he tried a little bit too much.

'After trying to slow me down so Hakkinen could catch up, which was perfectly legal, he just pushed me wide (at the first corner of the seventh lap) when he did not have to and touched me. I just want to make sure we don't see team-mates helping the drivers fighting for the championship in a way which is not appropriate.'