Rogue Profile of David Coulthard

“My understanding is that you are allowed to make a defensive move,” Coulthard said. “But you are not allowed to make a move that hinders the opportunity for the car trying to overtake you to overtake you. I’ve watched that incident (in Brazil) repeatedly and to me Michael clearly makes a deliberate swerving manoeuvre to the left after his initial manoeuvre to block Montoya. That isn’t what the regulations say you are allowed to do. That could at least have been treated as an incident, (the stewards could) maybe have called him up and talked about it. But it was a clear ‘no incident’ and that sends out a confusing message.”

“It was a mistake by a member of our team,” Ron Dennis explained. “That person apologized to Rubens and I apologized to Jean. It is important to maintain the tyre temperature on an “out” lap if you want the tyres to be “in” for the first three corners of your hot lap. It was critical for David not to back off and our dialogue was for him to increase his pace when we could see Rubens coming. Unfortunately, though, he didn’t do so enough to get out of Rubens’ way. But there is no question of our doing anything deliberate – people should know that is not our style.”

“I had a horrible session and believe that without problems I could have been on the third row at least. During my first run I hit traffic and lost a bit of time, my second stint was affected by the yellow flags following Sato’s incident and then it started to rain during my final qualifying lap which caused me to spin at the last corner,” the Scot explained.

“It has been a terrible afternoon for the entire team. At the first stop I went on the radio to say that I was coming in and whilst the mechanics could hear me, the pitwall was had some interference on their radios from the digital TV commentators and was unable to hear me. When the team then told me to come in, I was already past the pitlane entry,” Coulthard explained. “Then the information we had available told us that it might stop raining so I stayed out for another lap, but then it started to rain heavily. We just seemed to be on the wrong tyres at the wrong time. In addition I had experienced some problems with the brakes before the race which we tried to fix on the grid but when it started to rain I found it really hard to brake at Club Corner and I think I went off four times. To be honest this is a British Grand Prix I would prefer to forget.”

“I enjoyed this race so much that I didn’t want it to stop. In hindsight I could have been in with a chance for the victory but my ‘drive through’ penalty put a stop to that. I made a mistake and paid the prize. On my last few laps I was told to start short-shifting the gears to save the engine from a potential problem,” Coulthard explained.

Coulthard had a minor off at turn four in the Friday’s second practice session,
moments after Jacques Villeneuve had spun at the same corner. Coulthard hit the
kerb hard after he lost traction running over the gravel that had spilled on to
the track. The impact against the kerb popped the McLaren’s left rear tyre off
its rim and the car’s engine overheated as he restarted and drove slowly back
to the pits. This necessitated a top-up of its cooling system before he returned
to the track.

“As always on the first day at the Hungaroring, the track was very dusty
and as a result it was tricky to find the right balance,” the Scot explained.
“I lost some time in the second session when I spun at the chicane, which
punctured my left rear tyre. As I was making my way back to the pits slowly, my
engine became hot so we had to bleed and refill the cooling system. I would have
liked to do more laps, but we will try and make it up in tomorrow’s two practice
sessions.”

On lap forty-five Coulthard slid off the track and back on.

"I made a good start but was squeezed to the outside of turn one and
lost a couple of the places I had gained. I overtook Heidfeld at the beginning
of lap two to take 10th and eventually managed to get fifth position as we were
on a good strategy," the Scot explained. "The balance of the
car was inconsistent and the rear end was rather nervous which was why I had a
short off track excursion on lap 45. However our car was much better in race trim
so it’s a shame that we couldn’t start higher up the grid."

The biggest loser of Friday’s second practice session was McLaren’s David Coulthard.
The Scot locked his brakes going into the second Lesmo bend, (possibly due to
a slight technical problem.) The McLaren swapped ends and ploughed through the
gravel. Although the trap scrubbed off most it’s speed the wayward McLaren struck
the barriers and Coulthard was out, leaving Raikkonen to do the rest of Friday’s
development work alone.

"At the start of the second session the rear of the car locked up at
the second Lesmo, and I’m not sure whether it was a problem with the brakes or
the gearbox, but we will investigate further," David said. "It’s
a little frustrating not to have completed more laps, especially in view of tyre
evaluation, but with the information we gained from the test last week we should
be OK."

After Friday’s qualifying session, F1′s "fish-wife," David Coulthard
was more than vocal about the new format in his own inimitable fashion. He was
hardly dazzling in the session and afterwards he complained that the new one-lap
format lacked the excitement normally generated by the traditional qualifying
sessions.

"I don’t want to be negative just for the sake of it," said
Coulthard after the first session. "I used to get a buzz out of a qualifying
session…I’ve just done my Friday qualifying and I feel a bit ‘what was that?’
If it was good television and other people are buzzing then I have to say that
it was just a personal feeling today, maybe I got out of the wrong side of the
bed. From a driver point of view it wasn’t as exciting."

Following his second position in Saturday qualifying Coulthard used the post-session
press conference as his own personal soapbox. When given the opportunity, the
Scott had done his best to make the most derogatory comments possible about the
new qualifying format; this would have been too an opportunity good to miss.

Coulthard repeatedly dropped heavy hints that Webber was a "backmarker"
and his third position resulted from a low fuel load. He went on to imply that
Webber had no right to be there, so wonder the Australian looked sheepish and
embarrassed.

Question: "Can I switch to David or Rubens. How much fuel do you think
the Jaguars are running today?"

Coulthard: "We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. As Mark
said, I expect him to pit before I do and hopefully I’m one of the later ones
to pit."

Coulthard never missed an opportunity to complain about another driver’s conduct
and at the 2003 San Marino Grand Prix he had a few choice words about Fernando
Alonso.

Coulthard called for the authorities to strip Fernando Alonso of his third
placed finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix after the Spaniard smashed into the
debris from Mark Webber’s shunt, causing the race to be red flagged.

Coulthard (who finished fourth,) would then have been elevated to the third
place spot vacated by the Spaniard, who in David’s eyes did not deserve the position
as he was the one that caused the race to be stopped.

"It does not seem right – irrespective of whether it was Alonso or me
- that the guy who caused the red flag can still get third place and a podium,"
Coulthard said. "If he caused the red flag, whether he is injured or 100
per cent okay, he should not be allowed to keep the place. Alonso said he was
trying to catch the guy in front before the period of the safety car. If you going
into the pits that’s acceptable, but if not then there is no need to go flat out
as when the safety car is coming out you want to save fuel."