Coulthard determined to enjoy final race

The Red Bull Racing driver is calling time on his 246 race career at Interlagos this afternoon before moving into a new career as a team advisor and television pundit.

And although having already admitted that the emotions of his final F1 race have caught up with him over the weekend, he does not want to let that prevent him savouring his final time in a grand prix.

"I'm going to really take time to enjoy that moment," explained Coulthard. "I think it's easy to take that for granted. When you are doing anything in life you take it for granted, and it's not until you no longer have it that you realise.

"There are lots of guys who have come and gone that never had the opportunity to have as long a career as me, and there are lots of guys who had great talent but who never had the chance to drive a grand prix car. So I've always appreciated the opportunity I've been given.

"Even on the bad days I've loved being a grand prix driver working with the teams and being the guy that brings the information back of what it's like to be on the edge at 160mph in a corner. It's a very privileged position which I'm not sure you can really replace. But at least I was able to 240 odd of them."

Coulthard revealed that he was more nervous about his final qualifying outing on Saturday than he had been for some time.

"It was not lost on me the fact that it's the last time I will run a grand prix car on low fuel against the clock and it really mattered," he said. "But I keep telling myself that's a good thing, because if I didn't care then I should have stopped before! I do care.

"I enjoy driving these cars and I enjoy the pressure and challenge.

"I was really nervous before the session like I'd never been before, because I thought shit I don't want to go out in the first session! If you go out straightaway then that's like the walk of shame, getting out the car after first qualifying! But at least I got into the second session."