Given the solid working relationship between its two drivers, McLaren again kept both Coulthard and Hakkinen for 2000. As in 1999, the Scot harboured hopes that this would be his year, and vowed to devote even more of his time in pursuit of the title, but was ultimately beaten by team-mate Hakkinen,
Michael Schumacher and a run of relatively poor finishes late in the year.
Perhaps most significantly for Coulthard in 2000 was the survival of a plane crash that killed the two pilots. Coulthard was one of three survivors and although he escaped with minor injuries, it would go on to change his perspective on life.
The 2001 campaign brought forth much the same optimistic claims from the Coulthard camp, and the Scot, charged with much of the pre-season testing of the new MP4-16, remained confident that he could take the championship fight to Schumacher Sr.
Again, he got the better of team-mate Hakkinen in the early exchanges, finishing second to the world champion in Australia and then beating - and passing - him in a straight fight to win round three in Brazil. Another win in Austria appeared to set Coulthard up for a shot at the title, before Monaco summed all that was wrong with his - and
McLaren's - season.
Having seen off both Schumacher and Hakkinen in a tense battle for pole in the Principality, the Scot was left thumping his steering wheel in frustration when his car quit on the grid. Starting at the very back, he then caused uproar by claiming that backmarker Enrique Bernoldi should have moved over for him, before going on to take a hard-earned fifth.
Out of the top two until Belgium thereafter - while Schumacher took four wins - Coulthard's second spot came under threat from Barrichello, before the Scot consolidated his best ever finish in the title race.
