McLaren may rebuff Hakkinen after Coulthard victory

Formula One was deemed cleansed and even Ferrari seemed to relish the sense of relief. But inside the McLaren-Mercedes camp this publicly acclaimed success had a private and profound resonance.

It was as if David Coulthard and the team had waited all the six years or more of their relationship for this defining moment. The Scotsman had asserted himself as a man and a driver capable of shouldering the responsibilities of leadership.

The recognition came not as much in the post-race paean delivered by the team principal, Ron Dennis. Coulthard's victory in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, under extreme pressure from Michael Schumacher, was self-evidently "fantastic... disciplined... deserved''.

Of greater significance was Dennis's declaration that there would be no guarantee of a car next year for Finland's Mika Hakkinen, McLaren's long-time favoured son, who won the drivers' championship in 1998 and 1999.

Hakkinen, taking a sabbatical this year, ambled down from his home in the Old Town at the weekend to see friends and faced inevitable questions about his future. He was non-committal about his plans yet did say that if he decided to return he expected a McLaren to be made available for him. Dennis put a different slant on matters. He said: "This was a tremendous result for us but I don't think any single race would influence Mika's decision. But there will be nothing automatic for Mika. If he wants to come back to racing next year it's for the team to decide whether he gets one of our cars. He understands that.

"This team is run by the management, not by its players. I know absolutely nothing about football but certainly judging by the antics within the Irish football team I would say that the management there made the right decision.

"A team is about balance about give and take, and not about any one individual disturbing that balance. It's called team spirit.''

This result, however, might have some influence on McLaren's thought process. Hakkinen's replacement, Kimi Raikkonen, another Finn, has raw talent and boundless self-confidence. Coulthard provides experience, stature, and proven winning ability. He may never enjoy the close bond with Dennis that Hakkinen had, but he appears now to have the boss's faith and trust to carry the former champion's mantle.

Not that Hakkinen will be deluded this is a watershed in McLaren's fortunes. They had the car-tyres combination to confound Ferrari here, but anticipate normal service will be resumed at the Canadian Grand Prix, on Sunday week.

Dennis said: "We did a great job here and it's always very satisfying when the whole team play their part in the race and get the result they deserve. Everybody contributed. It's our 12th Monaco win, which stretches our lead here. But we're under no illusions. It's going to be tough for us at a lot of the remaining circuits this year. Canada is going to be extremely hard. Hungary may be more like here, because of the nature of the circuit. For now we'll just enjoy this success.''

Dennis has already instructed his team to make next year's car their priority. Ferrari's tyre choice here forfeited qualifying speed for race pace and the strategy did not come off. In the overall scheme of things Ferrari might consider this a price worth paying. Formula One feels better about itself this week and the result supports their argument that they cannot take championship success for granted, which in turn justifies team orders. In the meantime, Schumacher's second place is still good enough to extend his advantage in the driver's table to 33 points. Ferrari's lead over second placed Williams-BMW in the constructors' championship is 18 points.

Ross Brawn, Ferrari's technical director, said: "We are paranoid here about letting the championship slip. We have said all along that things can change so quickly in Formula One and look at what happened here.

"People say we are so far ahead we do not need to issue team orders but we would never be so arrogant or conceited as to believe we could not be caught. That said, we shall take into consideration the reaction of our fans when we determine our strategy in future.''

Public and political pressure is coming to bear. Formula One's two most powerful figures, Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone, are discouraging Ferrari from repeating the manipulation of Austria, and the team will be closely scrutinised in the next two grands grix, at Montreal and the Nürburgring, before they attend a hearing before the sport's world governing body, the FIA, on 26 June, to answer what amounts to charges of bringing the sport into disrepute.