David Coulthard

Motorsport: Pass properly or don't bother, says Coulthard

LONDON - Red Bull driver David Coulthard has expressed frustration with Formula One rivals who refuse to admit their mistakes.

The 37-year-old Scot has yet to score a point this season after collisions in two of the three races, tangling with Ferrari's Felipe Massa in Australia and Briton Jenson Button in Bahrain.

Coulthard said today that he was disappointed Honda's Button had blamed him to reporters after the race before apologising privately later.

"After the incident with Felipe Massa in Australia as well, I'm a bit weary of arguing about these collisions, because I think other drivers have got to take responsibility for their actions as well," said Coulthard.

"If it makes them happier, I'll say it was all my fault," he added.

"But on that basis it will be all my fault if they try the same thing again, because I can't see them when they're in my blind spot, we have high cockpit sides, and they're not far enough alongside.

"Either pass me properly or don't stick your nose in there," said Coulthard, who will be in action again in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.

Massa collided with Coulthard in Melbourne while trying to overtake the Scot on the inside as they headed into a corner, pitching the Red Bull off the track.

The Brazilian said afterwards that he had nothing to apologise for because he had done nothing wrong.

Coulthard messed up an overtaking manoeuvre on Alex Wurz in Australia last year, with his car narrowly missing the Austrian's head as it flew over the front of the Williams, and he said he had shouldered the blame immediately.

"The thing that's most disappointing is that when I screw up I admit my mistake, but when other people cause an accident with me, they seem not to," he said.

"I feel it's a bit unfair that I'm made out to be some sort of crasher when I've done 230-plus grands prix and generally kept my nose pretty clean.

"I don't want to crash with any of these people - but I'm not just going to move over and say "after you, Claude". So I will not change my approach."

David Coulthard's love life is out of gear after he parted ways with girlfriend Karen Minier

Greybeard David Coulthard, the oldest driver in Formula One, reckons there is plenty of life left in him — and a championship win too. The 37-year-old Scot may be a multi-millionaire and a highly successful businessman on the side, but he is ready, willing and able to stick his neck out to go to work on the threshold of survival at 338 kmph.

The Red Bull driver laughs off his veteran status and insists: “I’m not ready for my bus pass quite yet.”

Coulthard has amassed 13 wins and 61 podium places and is the fourth highest points scorer of all time in his 13-year flirtation with Formula One.

“OK, I am the oldest guy on the grid — but I’m not finished yet. And I’m not about to slow down,” he says.

“I am absolutely certain I can win another Grand Prix. And I still have the ability and the desire to win the championship.”

He cites, with a smile, heroes Nigel Mansell, at 39, Damon Hill, 36, and Frenchman Alain Prost, 37, who all left it late to clinch world titles.

Coulthard holds the record as Britain’s top points scorer — 513 — and despite his whitening whiskers and flecked hair, he adds: “I also have a few wrinkles, but none of this affects my ability to race a car and get the most out of it. I can be as competitive as the next guy.”

The Scottish driver heads a quartet of Brits — McLaren’s sensational Lewis Hamilton, tester-turned-racer Anthony Davidson and one-time winner Jenson Button — hell-bent on ending Britain’s Formula One title famine.

“I feel there are more wins in me,” says the Monaco-based ace, “and I am as fit as I have ever been. I feel in great shape mentally and physically. And I am content with my life on and off the track. It is far too early for me to even think about quitting, even if there are plenty of business opportunities out there for me.

“This car excites me and I am restless to get it to the stage where we have it just as we want it. I will be very surprised if this season we don’t take significant steps forward after all the hard work that has been put in.”

Team boss Christian Horner said: “Nobody should be fooled into thinking that because he is the oldest guy out there DC isn’t capable of being a winner.”

The lantern-jawed hearthrob gazes from his harbour-side apartment in Monaco, close to the Columbus Hotel he part owns, overlooking the berth of his yacht and ponders on a private love life that has hit more skids than his F1 career.

He shrugs: “That’s another aspect of my life I will have to get right.”

He has just split from his stunning girlfriend Karen Minier, a former model-turned TV broadcaster. They were engaged and were planning to marry later this year. It is the third time Coulthard’s marriage plans have floundered.

He had slipped engagement rings on the fingers of two other beauties.

Models Heidi Wichlinski and Simone Abdelnour both lived it up as fiancées of Coulthard on his worldwide jaunts in private jets and his ocean-going yacht, in between stopovers at his luxury homes in Monaco and Switzerland, before they parted.

In between times the man they call DC had dallied not-so-seriously with London society It-girl Lady Victoria Hervey and fashion models Heidi Klum, Andrea Murray and Ruth Taylor.

I guess it’s a racy lifestyle to match his day job.

Spanish Grand Prix

1st Free Practice

1 K. Räikkönen 1:20.649 17

2 F. Massa 1:20.699 9

3 L. Hamilton 1:21.192 20

4 R. Kubica 1:21.568 20

5 H. Kovalainen 1:21.758 10

6 F. Alonso 1:21.933 18

7 N. Piquet jr. 1:21.936 21

8 D. Coulthard 1:22.118 20

9 N. Heidfeld 1:22.278 24

10 J. Button 1:22.632 16

11 T. Glock 1:23.002 21

12 N. Rosberg 1:23.003 25

13 M. Webber 1:23.015 14

14 J. Trulli 1:23.141 15

15 K. Nakajima 1:23.153 24

16 A. Sutil 1:23.156 22

17 G. Fisichella 1:23.196 20

18 R. Barrichello 1:23.353 14

19 S. Bourdais 1:23.952 15

20 S. Vettel 1:24.082 15

21 T. Sato 1:24.278 14

22 A. Davidson 1:25.068 10

Spanish Grand Prix

2nd Free Practice

1 K. Räikkönen 1:21.935 38

2 N. Piquet jr. 1:22.019 38

3 F. Alonso 1:22.032 26

4 K. Nakajima 1:22.172 35

5 F. Massa 1:22.229 32

6 M. Webber 1:22.238 36

7 N. Rosberg 1:22.266 33

8 D. Coulthard 1:22.289 30

9 G. Fisichella 1:22.383 38

10 A. Sutil 1:22.548 38

11 L. Hamilton 1:22.685 33

12 R. Kubica 1:22.788 38

13 N. Heidfeld 1:23.130 40

14 J. Trulli 1:23.224 34

15 J. Button 1:23.263 34

16 H. Kovalainen 1:23.264 8

17 R. Barrichello 1:23.415 31

18 S. Vettel 1:23.661 35

19 S. Bourdais 1:23.684 37

20 T. Glock 1:23.883 40

21 T. Sato 1:25.110 30

22 A. Davidson 1:25.163 31

Spanish Grand Prix

3rd Free Practice

1 N. Heidfeld 1:21.269 19

2 D. Coulthard 1:21.465 16

3 F. Alonso 1:21.599 16

4 R. Kubica 1:21.717 23

5 J. Trulli 1:21.771 21

6 S. Bourdais 1:21.942 19

7 N. Piquet jr. 1:21.992 18

8 J. Button 1:22.060 17

9 F. Massa 1:22.075 16

10 T. Glock 1:22.081 23

11 L. Hamilton 1:22.094 15

12 N. Rosberg 1:22.174 19

13 K. Räikkönen 1:22.176 18

14 K. Nakajima 1:22.189 16

15 H. Kovalainen 1:22.220 16

16 S. Vettel 1:22.292 20

17 R. Barrichello 1:22.350 17

18 G. Fisichella 1:22.466 22

19 A. Sutil 1:22.689 21

20 T. Sato 1:23.726 16

21 A. Davidson 1:23.921 15

22 M. Webber no time 2

Spanish Grand Prix

Qualifying

1 K. Räikkönen 1:21.813

2 F. Alonso 1:21.904

3 F. Massa 1:22.058

4 R. Kubica 1:22.065

5 L. Hamilton 1:22.096

6 H. Kovalainen 1:22.231

7 M. Webber 1:22.429

8 J. Trulli 1:22.529

9 N. Heidfeld 1:22.542

10 N. Piquet jr. 1:22.699

11 R. Barrichello 1:21.049

12 K. Nakajima 1:21.117

13 J. Button 1:21.211

14 T. Glock 1:21.230

15 N. Rosberg 1:21.349

16 S. Bourdais 1:21.724

17 D. Coulthard 1:21.810

18 S. Vettel 1:22.108

19 G. Fisichella 1:22.516

20 A. Sutil 1:23.224

21 A. Davidson 1:23.318

22 T. Sato 1:23.496

Coulthard stunned by qualifying showing

David Coulthard said he was "shocked" by his performance in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Red Bull Racing driver failed to make it to the second qualifying segment after traffic caused his tyres to lose temperature during his final run.

The disappointed Scot had to settle for 17th position.

"I'm shocked about that," said Coulthard. "I dropped some time in Turn 12, but the problem occurred at the start of the lap. I went out in a bunch of traffic and had Sutil behind me, so I couldn't back off, which compromised warming up the tyres.

"We believed we were fast enough to go through the first session only using prime tyres, which take longer to warm up than the options.

"Under normal conditions, if you put in a hard out lap, then using primes like that shouldn't be a problem, but unfortunately it didn't work out for us today. After this morning, I thought we were looking good for making it into Q3, we took a risk and it didn't work."

Teammate Mark Webber had a much better day, again making it into the top ten.

The Australian, seventh fastest, believes he is in a good position to score points tomorrow.

"We knew it was going to be very tight here, and that's turned out to be the case," he said. "Barcelona's a track that the team's know well, but we've put ourselves in a good position for the first stint of tomorrow's race and hopefully from there we can lay the foundations to get some good points.

"We had a problem this morning, which we recovered from well and hopefully we can keep our points run going tomorrow."

Spanish Grand Prix

Spanish Grand Prix

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Coulthard's Formula One shunt seals disappointing day

TYWNHOLM racer David Coulthard looked set to pick up his first points of the season – only to be hampered by a rear-end shunt.

The gutted F1 driver eventually managed 12th place at Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix despite being close to a points finish.

He said: “It’s a horrible thing about being down near the end of the grid – you try to keep out of trouble, but it’s never so easy.

“I got whacked by [Adrian] Sutil going into turn four and picked up some light damage to the side of the car, but after that I was running okay.

“After my pit stop, I took a defensive line into turn four and five to show [Timo] Glock that I knew he was there, but he hit the rear of my car and punctured a tyre.”