Coulthard gives full backing to Mika
David Coulthard outqualified team-mate Mika Hakkinen to take third place on the grid for the crucial Malaysian Grand Prix and then wrote off his chances of victory
The Scot said he would not be standing in the way of his team-mate in his battle for the world championship with Eddie Irvine who starts two places ahead of the Finn.
'I will not be making it difficult for Mika to get past - I want McLaren and Mercedes to win both championships,' said Coulthard.
'We have got a bit of a gap to the Ferraris and I am surprised about how large it is.
'Michael is better than Eddie so that is part of the reason. But why such a big gap, who knows? The car isn't perfect so we will have to go away and have a look at it.'
The two McLaren's fill the front row behind the first Ferrari 1-2 in qualifying this season.
'It is not ideal from the championship point of view but my goal is to get the best out of the car and so this grid position is very satisfying personally,' he added.
He got a warm thankyou from rival Irvine who said, 'It was nice of David to bump Mika down a place on the grid.'
Share Or Save This Story
Formula 1: The groundbreaking women who drove in F1
Friday favourite: When a GP2 race winner “ate steering wheel” in Alpine's F1 winner
The potential pitfalls Mercedes is working to counter in 2021
Marquez baffled by “massive” tyre drop in British GP sprint
MotoGP British GP: Martin leads Aprilia domination in sprint
BTCC Knockhill: Morgan claims qualifying race win for Plato team
MotoGP British GP: Martin on pole with Marquez only sixth
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments