Coulthard silent over F1 future

With Scuderia Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel set to step up to Red Bull Racing in 2009, Coulthard and Webber are believed to be fighting it out for the remaining seat at the team.

And with Webber in top form at the moment, having scored all the team's points so far this year, the Australian is the most likely man to stay on board.

However, Coulthard suspects that Webber's public declaration that he is already in talks with Red Bull chiefs about a new deal may be part of a game to make it clear to other teams he is on the market.

"Speaking of career moves, my teammate Mark Webber told the media over the Istanbul weekend that he has opened talks with Red Bull to extend his contract," Coulthard wrote in his official column for ITV.

"If I try to rationalise why Mark would say that, I can only presume it was either to stimulate talks with the team or to stimulate interest in the rest of the paddock, reminding people that he's on the market.

"When you think about it logically, you do your private negotiations in private and then when you've reached an agreement you make an announcement. You don't normally say, 'Er, I'm about to enter negotiations...' So I would conclude that it was a positioning tactic rather than anything else."

Speaking about his own future, Coulthard added: "As far as my own situation goes, I will keep my own counsel until I have a firm deal to announce."