Coulthard's stall starts Dennis row

McLaren boss Ron Dennis was forced into an embarrassing climbdown last night after accusing David Coulthard of 'brain fade' for the stall which left his car at the back of the grid in yesterday's Spanish Grand Prix.

Coulthard finished fifth and now lies eight points behind Ferrari rival Michael Schumacher in the drivers' championship. The German claimed a dramatic victory when he passed Mika Hakkinen, who was well clear until he suffered a broken clutch on the last lap. Dennis said:'I did tell David that it looked as though he had brain fade. We all have to take responsibility for our actions - he was caught out. 'David did not perform properly. He was concerned about running into the back of Michael Schumacher and did not do his start on the dummy grid correctly.' But the computer technology being used for the first time to deliver an automatic start soon came to Coulthard's defence, and forced Dennis to modify his response.

He later admitted: 'Based on an initial analysis we felt David had been responsible for stalling but closer scrutiny confirmed that a glitch in the software was at fault.' Coulthard, who battled to get himself into the points after his setback and a first-lap crash, said: 'I initiated the start sequence before the formation lap and everything seemed normal until I wanted to accelerate away.

'I was pretty disappointed, frustrated and angry.You start to doubt whether you did something wrong because the system should be failsafe and has an anti-stall device incorporated. I was beside myself with frustration. I wanted to throw the car in the gravel and go home.

'The boffins were standing there and scratching their heads. Was it my mistake? No. Was it a systems mistake? Yes.' The Scot's problems, allied to Hakinnen's devastating late demise, ensured a frustrating day for McLaren.

Coulthard added: 'I really felt for Mika. He had the race in his pocket and Michael was fortunate to get the win. In different circumstances it could have been a McLaren one-two.'