Hakkinen's resurgence brings its own pressure

World championship leader Mika Hakkinen has admitted that the pressure is back on him with five races remaining and just two points separating him from second-placed Michael Schumacher.

The Finn, whose early season slump saw him eliminated from the dogfight for title contention, has bounced back in superb style since being told by team boss Ron Dennis to take a break and recharge his batteries. In Hungary two weeks ago, he snatched control of a championship that had been led by Schumacher since the opening race of the season. That new found dominance, however, has led to extra pressure according to the McLaren number one.

"It is difficult," he admitted. "Certainly as the season goes on the pressure gets higher and higher and I don't really see it getting any less difficult. There are good and bad sides to leading the championship.

"Obviously the positive aspect is that I'm leading. But on the negative, if you are in the lead you have to stay there and that can put more pressure on."

The pressure will bear down fully this weekend at the Spa Francorchamps circuit, where Hakkinen will attempt to claim his first Belgian Grand Prix win at the ninth attempt. He has finished second twice, in 1994 and last year, when he famously clashed with team-mate David Coulthard at the first corner, La Source.

Coulthard went on to win that race, his first victory here, and yesterday he admitted that he desperately wants to score back-to-back wins at a track he readily admits is his favourite on the calendar. The Scot, though, insisted that the holiday he had just returned from will not make a major difference to his championship challenge.

"I don't think the key to going faster in a racing car is not driving and going on holiday," he said. "I just hope that I'm quick this weekend and if I win and people want to put it down to me taking a holiday, then that 's fine. I don't care how it comes just as long as it comes."

To score a second win at Spa, and rejuvenate a challenge that has faltered slightly since his victory at the French Grand Prix six weeks ago, the McLaren number two will not only have to bypass the drivers ahead of him in the championship but also the back markers whom he claimed robbed him of second place in Hungary a fortnight ago. Then, the Scot blamed Minardi's Marc Gene and Gaston Mazzacane for disrupting his race.

Yesterday though, Minardi boss Gabriele Rumi hit back at Coulthard's allegations, citing second-placed Michael Schumacher's quicker passing of the duo as indicative of mistakes on the McLaren driver's part. "Why should Gene take responsibility instead of Coulthard?" said Rumi. "The latter should anticipate the consequences of having to pass slower cars if he considers himself a potential champion.

"Alternatively his pit wall crew should have informed him to driver closer to car number 3 (Schumacher) in order to profit from the same opportunity. To lay the blame for one race result on a single fact seems to me nothing but a pretext."

Mika Salo's departure from Sauber at the end of this season has been made official, with twin announcements from the Swiss outfit and from the Finn's new employers Toyota.

The former Tyrrell and Arrows driver, who last year memorably stood in for Michael Schumacher at Ferrari after the German's Silverstone accident, will take on a development role at the Japanese company as the manufacturing giant gears up for its entry into Formula One in 2002.