Coulthard Downplays Strike Threat

Red Bull Racing driver David Coulthard has downplayed the possiblity of a drivers' strike, despite suggesting the very same last weekend

Coulthard, one of the four directors of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association and recently the most vocal in his criticism of the rule changes and lack of safety during testing, wrote in his column for Scotland's Daily Record newspaper that "Strike action could hit the second half of our season".

"That's how strongly I and my fellow drivers feel over the safety concerns that have dogged us since last month's US Grand Prix," he wrote.

But speaking to the media at Istanbul, Turkey, in a Red Bull function to promote the upcoming inaugural Turkish Grand Prix, Coulthard dismissed the possibility that the drivers would strike and emphasized their concern over safety in testing.

"I don't think there's any risk in the drivers taking a strike," Coulthard said. "Formula One is very well regulated, the safety has improved fantastically over the last ten years, and the only thing we've been working towards is improving testing safety.

"When we go testing, we do [the equivalent of] two Grands Prix, and the facilities are not as good as when we go to a Grand Prix."

Coulthard said new circuits, like the one built in Istanbul, have contributed to increased safety for the F1 drivers. "The invention of new circuits, like the one you have here, is something that is improving [safety] a lot," the Scot said.

"If you look at the circuit, there's so much run-off [area] that you'd have to be very unlucky to hit something."

The F1 drivers were invited to a meeting with FIA president Max Mosley at Cannes on August 1st, after a meeting arranged for Silverstone, ahead of the British Grand Prix, was cancelled by Mosley.

Coulthard said some of the drivers will attend the meeting, despite the new location and date being less convenient for them.

"We obviously would have preferred to have the meeting at Silverstone, because we were all there," Coulthard said.

"But Mr. Mosley said that that wouldn't be convenient for him, so at the moment I believe that a number of the drivers will fly together on the Monday after Budapest to Cannes, and we'll meet with him there."