DC blames lack of testing for McLaren ‘slump’
David Coulthard says McLaren is suffering from a lack of testing after posting his worst qualifying performance in over a year
The Scot starts the Malaysian Grand Prix eighth, while team mate Mika Hakkinen is four places ahead of him, behind both Ferraris and Ralf Schumacher's Williams-BMW.
Hakkinen was eight-tenths slower than Michael Schumacher on pole and Coulthard was over a second away.
"We are struggling to get the balance right, so I can't take the car to the limit - that means I end up driving defensively, and therefore lap times go up and down," said Coulthard.
The Scot believes McLaren has been particularly affected by contesting the first two rounds in Malaysia and Australia - the other side of the world from the team's usual test tracks. The MP4-16 was one of the last 2001 cars to be unveiled, only a month before the start of the season.
"We are suffering from the races being 'fly-aways' as we are not able to test the MP4-16 on the track," added the Scot. "I am confident that I will be quicker than some of the cars in front of me, but this is not an easy track to overtake on."
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