Dc Interview

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dc interviewhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/sport_web/video/9012da68002ac70/bb/09012da68002ad43_16x9_bb.asx

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There’s no question that David Coulthard was one of the biggest winners of the 2005 season, even if he never actually made it to the podium. A year ago, it appeared that his career was over after he’d got to the end of his final year with McLaren without having secured a seat for ’05. But when Red Bull bought Jaguar, a lifeline appeared, and he grabbed it with both hands.

The Scot repaid the new owners big time, bringing with him experience that proved invaluable as the revamped team tried to find its way. He might have been given a hard time in terms of outright qualifying pace by teammate Christian Klien, but DC’s knowledge helped him to bring home useful helpings of points, and he took advantage of opportunities that came his way, notably with fourths in the Australian and European GPs, the latter despite a marginal pit speeding penalty. His bank account also benefited from a healthy bonus per point scored, and he ended up with rather more than even he expected.

From the doubts of a year ago, Coulthard now knows he’s going into 2006 with a package that includes a Ferrari engine and design ace Adrian Newey working behind the scenes – something that many other drivers will look upon with a degree of envy. And the new qualifying format will be more favorable to the 34-year-old that the one-shot system that he always hated. SpeedTV.com talked to Coulthard about this season and the future.

Q: Overall, how would you summarize this season?

“I think the start of the year was the highlight for me. There was a lot of uncertainty from various people as to the lateness of the purchase by Red Bull, the logic of me joining the team, and Christian [Horner] as a young, inexperienced F1 team principal or sporting director. So, there were lots of reasons why people were potentially writing off the team. Through the circumstances that we had through nature in Melbourne, we had a good qualifying and a good race result. It was very important, because it took away questions from people within F1. We were able to back that up later in the year with another fourth at Nurburgring.

“At various points it’s been a case of the car having good race performance, and we’ve been able to battle with some of the established works teams. It’s just been a question of not being able to get it as high up the grid as those guys have. On balance, I think it’s been a positive season, and one that’s given the team a good foundation to attract personnel and strengthen the investment and technology to take the team forward.”

Q: How important was it get those points in the bag?

“It was very important, because as I said, it just takes away questions from people within F1 in other teams, and I guess from a media point of view it affects how the team was projected to the outside world, and ultimately it’s a high-speed billboard for Red Bull. That’s got to work. We’ve been able to build from there. No one who has been around F1 for a period of time underestimates how difficult it is to move forward. As you’ve seen with many of the works teams, cash alone doesn’t enable you to do that. It’s about investing in areas that you believe are important, and that essentially is people, because they are what drives the technology forward.”

Coulthard enjoyed surprising the Renault team with his form at the Nurburgring. (LAT photo)

Q: Looking at some of the races, the two big results you mentioned were Australia and Nurburgring. What are your memories of those two?

“In fact, Australia and Nurburgring were both potentially podium finishes. In the latter I had a penalty for speeding in the pit lane, so there were opportunities missed, but also opportunities taken. We had genuinely good races. In Nurburgring, the Renault guys were expecting us to pit, and we kept going and kept going. It’s very satisfying. Obviously it’s not the same as winning grands prix, but the ultimate goal is to take the team forward to be in a position to do that.’

Q: What other races stand out for you?

“Monaco was very positive, and we were genuinely quick there. My qualifying lap on Sunday morning was a great lap considering the fuel level we had on board. We were stopping late, and I’ve got every reason to believe that with [Nick] Heidfeld only being a few seconds up the road we would have jumped him at his stop, and he ultimately ended up on the podium. I think from a team point of view both Christian [Klien] and I drove very well and very cleanly in Turkey. There were no mistakes from either of us. I followed him initially, as he started in front of me, and was able to overtake at the pit stop, and he pretty much followed me until the end of the race. That was our potential that weekend. It wasn’t good enough for big points, but there were no big strategic mistakes or driver errors. If you replicate a race like that with a better grid slot, that’s how you win grands prix.”

Q: You got involved in a few incidents that were usually not your fault. How frustrating was that?

“The first laps in Hungary, Monza and Interlagos were disappointing, but that’s racing. You’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

Q: Has it been a different kind of challenge this year, working your way up from further down the grid?

“That is the challenge – to extract the maximum from the opportunity you have. That’s the same whether you’re in a car that’s more competitive or less competitive. To view it as it’s less competitive and, therefore, I’m going to try less, you’re in the wrong business. I try to do the best job I can. It’s about working with people to take the team forward, and that’s what we’re endeavoring to do.”

Q: Are you excited about working with a new engine supplier?

“Yes. I’m disappointed about going to V8 and losing horsepower and everything. It’s unquestionably slower, and that’s got to mean safer, because at various points you’re going to arrive at the scene of the accident at a lower speed. Ultimately, we’ll still end up doing the big top speed, because they’ll just give us the wing to achieve it.

“It’s a new challenge to work with Ferrari, and that will inevitably bring some complications as you adapt to their systems, and it’s a time when it’s a transitional period in F1 for everybody, to a different engine with different vibration levels and what have you. Let’s hope that they produce a solid package that enables us to build on this year.’

Q: Are there drawbacks in being the second team of an engine supplier, rather than having someone devoted to you?

“Yes, but it’s all about resources at the end of the day. If Ferrari have a potentially greater level of investment into that engine project, then there’s no reason to expect that they won’t be able to see that develop. Cosworth are limited by the investment that they’ve had over the last few years. They’ve done a very solid job in producing a reliable engine, and we’re thankful for that partnership. But the decision was made very early on, which was the right thing for the engineers and designers, and it was the right thing out of respect for Cosworth, so they knew early on what the position was. We’ve made our bed, now we’ll go and lie in it.”

Q: Do you think you’ll have a competitive overall package in 2006?

“No way of knowing! After all these years in F1, I would not presume to buy into the BS of simulations say this, or they say that. The best simulation is still the racetrack, and we’ll get the car on the racetrack and see how it performs. We believe in the potential of the people that are there designing and building the car. If you didn’t, then you’re absolutely doing the wrong thing.

“They’ve had a period of time to understand the 2005 car and look at areas where they believe they can improve and build for the future, so now it’s a question of how all those elements of chassis design, aerodynamics, the integration of the Ferrari engine come together. That will dictate whether we are relatively quicker in performance or not compared to the others

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