Interview: Coulthard Still on Red Bull's List

Red Bull Racing have offered David Coulthard a glimmer of hope just as the Scot's Formula One career looked to be drawing to a close.

Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, who this month bought Jaguar from Ford, suggested the 33-year-old could still have a future with his new, renamed team.

"Among the experienced drivers with 'development know-how', David Coulthard and Nick Heidfeld would be of interest, for example," he told Reuters in a written interview.

Mateschitz made clear fellow Austrian Christian Klien, a rookie with Jaguar this year, and Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi remained the favourites for his team's race seats.

"It's no accident that people talk about the first year in Formula One as being a learning year," he said. "Afterwards a driver has to prove himself.

"From that point of view, Christian Klien should get his chance, but he has to prove himself in a series of tests - just like Vitantonio Liuzzi, who impressively won the Formula 3000 championship as a Red Bull junior driver."

Coulthard has been dropped by McLaren in favour of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya.

Driver Focus

Mateschitz said owning a team made sense from a marketing strategy point of view and Red Bull, with a 10-year track record in motorsport, would be driver-oriented, unlike the carmaker teams dominating the sport.

"Our focus is on the drivers, the sport, and the fun involved in the sport," he said. "Our approach to Formula One is completely different from that of a carmaker: it is more subtle and probably also more competitive.

"We are involved in Formula One for our drivers and for our rookie team. And we are going to be successful at it because our most urgent priority is to establish a team standing that is in keeping with the Red Bull standards."

Mateschitz, whose team will continue to use Cosworth engines next year, acknowledged the importance of having a manufacturer involved.

"In the short term, a private team doesn't stand a chance," he declared. "Whether or not things are going to change and how quickly depends on the prevailing conditions and regulations.

"But I'm optimistic: the tendency in Formula One is for private teams to have a better chance in future. For us, of course, it is a matter of urgent concern to find a carmaker as a partner for 2006."

Mateschitz said there was no immediate connection between the purchase of Jaguar and his oft-stated dream of an all-American team.

"For the latter we need an American engine manufacturer and American drivers," he said. "Neither is available at the moment, but that does not mean that we have abandoned the idea of an all-American racing team. That remains a fascinating idea that has just been put on hold for the moment."

Mateschitz played down a suggestion that friend and compatriot Gerhard Berger, the former Ferrari driver and BMW Motorsport director, could play a role in Red Bull's future.

"I don't think that Gerhard can have any interest in heading our team; that's something he could have done a long time ago with other teams," he said.

"Our conversations and his specialist input so far have been on a strictly friendly basis and I hope that will continue in the same way in the future."