I'm driving just as well as Hamilton, boasts Coulthard

Then, tugging at credulity, David Coulthard boasted he is driving as brilliantly as world championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

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Coulthard, on four points, has not won since Melbourne — in March 2003. Hamilton, with 58 points and a 100 per cent record of podium finishes in seven races, took the second of his successive victories in the United States only 12 days ago.

But in the build-up to Sunday's French Grand Prix the Scottish driver, alluding to how Hamilton's McLaren is jet-propelled compared to his Red Bull, is in no mood to concede he is on the wane at the age of 36.

"I wake up on a Sunday and love the opportunity to go racing," said Coulthard, the last McLaren driver to win here in France in 2000 and the oldest man on the grid.

"I want to compete and race because it is the pinnacle of motorsport and I believe I can make a difference. That will end at some point but in the meantime I am driving every bit as well as Lewis Hamilton. I just don't have the car to show it.

"I can do something remarkable. Winning here and giving Michael Schumacher the finger was remarkable because it was difficult.

"I still get those remarkable results but they are not in the public eye. I am getting more out of the equipment than it should deliver on occasions, finishing third last year in Monaco."

Coulthard's claims might be a touch exaggerated, but it is thought he has done enough to be granted a contract extension beyond the end of the season.

Red Bull bosses have been impressed by his attitude and point to how he scythed through the field from the back row of the grid at Bahrain in April, only for gremlins to prevent him reaching the chequered flag.

Hamilton, however, is the future. The 22-year-old is coming to terms with his celebrity status and the fan mail is pouring in.

He said: "I've read letters this week from young kids telling me that all of a sudden they want to be racing drivers. I remember when I was in the same position and now I just try to give them the best image possible. I'm starting to appreciate the importance of my actions."

Hamilton has won approval from Alain Prost, the four-times world champion who drove for McLaren alongside Ayrton Senna in the late Eighties. It was a keen rivalry, leaving the French 'professor' perfectly placed to analyse Hamilton's relationship with team-mate Fernando Alonso, the title holder who trails the Briton by 10 points.

Prost said: "Alonso wanted to go to McLaren because it was like a dream for him, but now he finds he is not the only one in the family. It must be very difficult for him to motivate himself in this situation. 'When you have a young driver against one who has been winning, then everyone supports the new man."

Kubica, meanwhile, was confronting higher matters after escaping with little more than a sprained ankle when he crashed his BMW at 144mph in Montreal.

The 22-year-old from the former Pontiff's home town of Krakow, wears John Paul's name on his crash helmet. The connection prompted a Polish news agency to suggest his continued existence is evidence of a miracle.

"I know nothing about it," said Kubica, neatly swerving the subject.