Saturday June 17th, 2000

World championship leader Michael Schumacher said on Saturday he would reserve judgment on McLaren rival David Coulthard's title ambitions.

"I want to see consistent proof that David has become stronger or equal to Mika (Hakkinen)," said Schumacher who heads the British driver by 12 points in the championship.

Coulthard heads into the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday after a run of five consecutive podium finishes, including a win in Monaco two weeks ago.

But the Ferrari driver insisted that reigning champion Hakkinen was still his main threat this season.

Schumacher said: "You cannot say after one race that he (Coulthard) is been doing well now, that he has beaten or is on top of Hakkinen.

"He's already done that in the past and has fallen back again. So let's wait and see what exactly it is that he's doing."

Coulthard headed Friday's free practice, but the German refused to be impressed by the performance.

"Maybe he had much less fuel than Hakkinen, I don't know. If he is as strong in qualifying then maybe, yes, we can say he is stronger than Mika.

"I would be surprised if he was. Why should he be faster than Mika? There's no reason for it unless Hakkinen had a problem."