Coulthard Sees Little Reason to Celebrate

David Coulthard, runner-up last season, saw little to be happy about on Sunday after failing to finish the first Formula One race of 2002.

"What are the positives?" the McLaren driver pondered after the Australian Grand Prix. "Well, we weren't quick in qualifying, we weren't quick in the wet and we didn't finish the race.

"I wish there was a test that I could go to now before Malaysia to really do some work. But the thing is that we have to wait now until Malaysia and see whether the tyre combination works there. It's difficult to find a positive on a day like today."

Coulthard's pain was only exacerbated by the sight of adversary and World Champion Michael Schumacher winning for Ferrari and his own young Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who replaced Mika Hakkinen, finishing third in his first race with McLaren.

"I can't deny it, it's not good that they (Ferrari) have been so strong here in qualifying, in wet conditions and obviously in the race," said Coulthard. "I think Michael was probably just running at a canter."

While the Scot suffered gear selection problems after escaping the first corner carnage that put eight cars out of the race at Albert Park's street circuit, Raikkonen set the fastest lap of the day.

"At the end of the day Kimi's a competitor and I can't say I'm happy for any competitor to score points when I'm not," said Coulthard. "But I recognise the importance of a first podium to him."

Happy Raikkonen

"It goes without saying that I am happy with my first ever Formula One podium finish and it's great that it happened in my debut race," said the 22-year-old Raikkonen.

He had to pit for a new nose cone and repairs to the rear wing after being caught up in the mayhem when Ralf Schumacher's Williams hit the Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello.

When he rejoined the race after his second pit stop, Raikkonen almost slipped past second placed Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya but went wide and lost the chance. Coulthard, who retired on lap 33, said the race was so strange that it was hard to tell how Schumacher would have fared in a normal contest.

"It for sure would have been difficult for him to get past me had I not had the problem," he said. "Then it would have come down to pitstops. I think it would have been more of a race than we saw. But there's no point in saying we could have won this race because who knows.

"Their performance has been pretty quick all weekend and if we were running together all he (Schumacher) would have needed if he could have stopped later than me would have been a couple of quick laps before the pitstop."

Coulthard said the gear selection difficulty varied from shifting down to neutral to resisting changes altogether.

"I am very frustrated because I recognise the importance of getting points early on in the season," said the Scot. "You see only (eight) cars finished I think and that's the time when you should be out there finishing as well."