Spielberg, May 18: David Coulthard admits he is in danger of losing touch with Formula One's world championship leaders, after struggling during qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Scot qualified in 14th position in his McLaren, with title rivals Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen first and second on the grid. "I have got to make the best of this, keeping out of trouble at the start when there is all sorts of action going on. It's very important that I get some points," Coulthard said.
The 32-year-old, who won the first race of the season, is already 13 points behind team-mate Raikkonen after poor results in the last two races. The Finn has 32 points and is fighting off the increased challenge of reigning champion Schumacher, who is second with 28 points after two consecutive wins.
"There is definitely a bit of the raising of the Titanic required from 14th," added Coulthard. "It's going to be tricky. I dropped the bat at the last corner. I was just trying to finish the lap, not make up what I hadn't gained around the rest of the lap, so I was a little bit surprised. "I didn't expect to be front-rowing, but if I could have been in the middle of the top 10 that would have given me the place to go for a podium but now it's going to be difficult with all the traffic.



"This just sums up the difficulty I have had this weekend knowing where the car is. And Kimi doesn't even know where his time came from."



Coulthard was criticised by McLaren boss Ron Dennis, who said making three mistakes on his qualifying lap was "unacceptable". By contrast, Raikkonen, who like Coulthard failed to finish the last race in Spain, produced his best qualifying performance of the season. He is confident of taking on Schumacher for victory on Sunday.



"I have got a good chance to win the race," said Raikkonen. "I'm pleased with the result particularly after my qualifying at the last race. The view from the front of the grid is definitely better than from the back.



"I drove an almost perfect lap which is the first time I have done that in qualifying this year. It was close but unfortunately I just missed out on my first pole."



Raikkonen was just 0.039secs slower than Schumacher, who recovered with a brilliant lap after making mistakes at the first two corners.


Bureau Report