Coulthard Hopes for Stronger Race

The Briton lost valuable track time in Saturday morning free practice with a small electronics problem and then lost a bit of confidence early in his qualifying lap when he failed to pull enough revs into Copse to allow him to get up to seventh gear.

The result left him sandwiched between the two Williams cars - although the missing tenth of a second to Mark Webber would have been enough to promote him to 11th on the grid, with Kimi Raikkonen getting relegated from second to 12th.

Coulthard, however, is hoping for a stronger performance in tomorrow's race.

"I am disappointed not to be in front of Webber in the Williams because I think I had the pace, " said Coulthard. "Otherwise I think that is as far up as I could be this weekend."

He added: "We looked strong yesterday and I would expect that the pace we showed in the first two practice sessions will come through in the race tomorrow. I wanted to qualify in front of Webber, as I think our car is quicker than his in races and his pace might hold us up. We'll just have to hope we're carrying more fuel than he is."

Speaking about the gearbox issue, Coulthard said: "We were in a routine of going from sixth to seventh gear before Turn one, then going back down to sixth again, but it didn't happen on that lap.
 
"As a driver, there's nothing worse than going into a corner expecting a shift that doesn't come. I was therefore disadvantaged in the first corner, but other than that it was not so bad."

Teammate Christian Klien believed that his poor run to 15th was most likely the result of having been first out on the track - the legacy of his early retirement from the French Grand Prix.

"That was not brilliant," he said. "I made a mistake in one of the chicanes and lost a bit of time. It's always difficult when you go out first, as you never know how much grip there is."