Coulthard Fends Off Claims of 'F1 Mockery'

Scot David Coulthard has fended off claims that Ferrari's decision to impose team orders at Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix made a mockery of Formula One, but the McLaren driver questioned if such thing is not damaging the image of the sport.

For the second consecutive year at the Austrian circuit, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was forced to let teammate Michael Schumacher through on the final lap of the race, and Coulthard has warned that it could make the spectators lose their interest in the sport.

"I don't think what happened makes a mockery of the sport because that is its contractual business," Coulthard said. "The fundamental question though is: 'is this good for the sport?' Clearly by the crowd's reaction they made their opinion on that quite strongly.

"We are a public sport and without the support of the public then the sport will suddenly start going downhill. You have got to take more pleasure out of winning a race straight. I have not had the success Michael has had, but the wins I have had to work for have been the most pleasurable.

"That's what we are here for: we want to have the battle, the struggle. We don't just want to turn up and someone give you the ten points. After a while it would just be boring."

Back in 1998, Coulthard let former teammate Mika Hakkinen win the Australian Grand Prix after Hakkinen was forced to pit for an extra time, which cost him the lead. But Coulthard stopped on the final lap and allowed the Finn to take the win.

Coulthard claimed that, like him, Barrichello did not have any choice on Sunday but to obey the orders from his team.

"I didn't get out and say I wasn't happy," he added. "I got out and explained what had happened. Of course I wasn't happy, but that is the contract I had. Rubens is a grown man who signs a contract that obviously puts him in that situation and you can't argue with that.

"The public has to understand that F1 is a bit like the Tour de France, where there is a team leader and all the other guys are there to help him. A driver can only win a Championship with a team's support. A lot of teams put more importance on the Constructors' Championship rather than the drivers'.

"But the driver is the name that will also be remembered, it will always be a footnote what the car was. Maybe the teams should have to declare their contracts to the public because I know people bet on Formula One But the public has to understand the politics of the sport - there is a range of issues, but they have been there since Fangio's day.

"Then someone would stop and get out of the car, and give Fangio his car to go and race. Nothing has fundamentally changed, but F1 has such a higher profile now."