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Poor form leaves Coulthardt baffled
Nuerburgring, June 29: David Coulthard has admitted that he is mystified by the poor form that has all but killed off his world championship challenge this season.
Nuerburgring, June 29: David Coulthard has admitted that he is mystified by the poor form that has all but killed off his world championship challenge this season.
The Scot has put in a series of bad qualifying performances which have left him struggling to do well in races. The jinx hit the McLaren driver again at the European Grand Prix on Saturday, where Coulthard could only manage ninth place on the grid. Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen is on pole position.
"The story of my last few races has been my poor qualifying performances," said Coulthard, who led the championship after winning the first race of the season but now trails Raikkonen by a massive 23 points. "I am not getting enough out of the one lap to give myself a chance in the race where there is no problem with my pace. I don't understand what the problem is and am still trying to find a solution."
Jenson Button managed 12th for BAR-Honda, a second quicker than team-mate Jacques Villeneuve. "It's been a tough weekend so far and we've had to try a lot of things with the set-up to improve," Button said. "The balance isn't too bad now, we're just not quick enough."
Ralph Firman celebrated the best qualifying position of his rookie season with 14th place for Jordan despite an engine problem in practice. He was only 0.3secs and one place behind his highly-rated team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella.
"It was disappointing that I lost a lot of track time as I think it may have cost me in qualifying," said Firman. "But the weekend's worked out really well apart from that and I'm quite happy with how qualifying went although I did make a small mistake on the lap.
"You can never get it absolutely perfect but you can always aim to get it better."
Justin Wilson was 19th for Minardi, saved from starting last by Sauber's Nick Heidfeld who hit technical problems at the first corner and stalled in front of thousands of his countrymen.
Bureau Report
The Scot has put in a series of bad qualifying performances which have left him struggling to do well in races. The jinx hit the McLaren driver again at the European Grand Prix on Saturday, where Coulthard could only manage ninth place on the grid. Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen is on pole position.
"The story of my last few races has been my poor qualifying performances," said Coulthard, who led the championship after winning the first race of the season but now trails Raikkonen by a massive 23 points. "I am not getting enough out of the one lap to give myself a chance in the race where there is no problem with my pace. I don't understand what the problem is and am still trying to find a solution."
Jenson Button managed 12th for BAR-Honda, a second quicker than team-mate Jacques Villeneuve. "It's been a tough weekend so far and we've had to try a lot of things with the set-up to improve," Button said. "The balance isn't too bad now, we're just not quick enough."
Ralph Firman celebrated the best qualifying position of his rookie season with 14th place for Jordan despite an engine problem in practice. He was only 0.3secs and one place behind his highly-rated team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella.
"It was disappointing that I lost a lot of track time as I think it may have cost me in qualifying," said Firman. "But the weekend's worked out really well apart from that and I'm quite happy with how qualifying went although I did make a small mistake on the lap.
"You can never get it absolutely perfect but you can always aim to get it better."
Justin Wilson was 19th for Minardi, saved from starting last by Sauber's Nick Heidfeld who hit technical problems at the first corner and stalled in front of thousands of his countrymen.
Bureau Report