Coulthard Leads Safety Campaign

Coulthard, who is a director of F1 drivers' body, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, has told this week's Autosport that there are now worries that safety facilities at tests are nowhere near as good as they are at Formula One races.

"There is a real concern within the GPDA to look at how we can go about improving safety standards in testing," said Coulthard. "We feel that there is no reason to have a distinction between when we go Grand Prix racing and when we go testing. The speeds are the same, the tracks are the same, but the safety standards are not."

The concerns about safety have mounted because of the extra distances that drivers are now conducting at tests due to evaluation of long-life tyres and engines.

Coulthard has said that the GPDA will try and work with the FIA to introduce safety improvements - although one of the major hurdles in the FIA stipulating minimum safety standards is that they do not regulate testing because the teams decided several years ago that they wanted testing limitations agreed amongst themselves.

"What we want to do is progress in a constructive manner," added Coulthard. "Nothing will change by keeping quiet about it."