DAVID COULTHARD is pinning his hopes of emerging as Britain's top 1997 grand prix challenger on the striking new high-tech McLaren-Mercedes MP4/12 which was unveiled yesterday at the team's Woking factory.

With the world champion Damon Hill expected to struggle initially in the new Arrows-Yamaha, the 26-year-old Scot is aiming to regain the competitive edge which gained him his first, and so far only, Formula One victory at the wheel of a Williams in the 1995 Portuguese GP.

"I feel much more confident than I did this time last year," said Coulthard who is starting his second season with McLaren. "When I joined McLaren we had problems with the car and it was all very difficult. Now I feel much more part of the team and hope to be challenging for top-three finishes in every race.

Yet Coulthard denies that he will be under more scrutiny in his role as possibly the leading British contender. "I don't really think there will be any more interest in me than there was when I made my Formula One debut in 1994 or in 1995 when Damon and I were regularly up at the front. In fact, the nearer to the front you are, the easier it is.

The new McLaren was completed just after six o'clock in the morning and four hours later was already being loaded into a transporter which was shipped, together with its own tow van, direct from Luton to Jerez in a giant Ilyshin cargo jet in preparation for Coulthard's first test this morning at the Spanish track.

For its shakedown tests, the new car was finished in a bright orange livery first used by McLaren 30 years ago, an interim measure until the definitive livery is unveiled next month which is expected to strongly feature the traditional silver racing colours of Mercedes-Benz.