Coulthard wants to stay at Red Bull

At 36 years old, Coulthard is the oldest driver in Formula One - and has faced the inevitable questions in recent weeks about whether it was time for him to hang up his helmet.

But amid rumours that he has already opened contract talks with the team about next year, Coulthard has said he sees no reason not to continue in F1 next year.

And his motivation to get a new deal with Red Bull has only increased now that the team are starting to make big steps forward with the pace of their car.

"Of course I want to stay," Coulthard told autosport.com. "I have been doing the hard part of the work here (to improve the car), so why would I then want to step to one side? There is no benefit to that.

"I want to continue and there are some good people here. We have started to see the progress and we will be developing everything through the course of the year. That is what we have to do to move into that one second window of Ferrari and McLaren."

Coulthard's current deal with Red Bull runs out at the end of this year, and there have been rumours that Scuderia Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi could be moved up for 2008 as teammate to Mark Webber.

But despite that possibility, Coulthard has said he is relaxed about the situation - with serious talks about his future unlikely to start until the summer.

"For me, my position is quite clear," he said. "In terms of other people I don't know when they want to make their decisions or make an announcement."

When asked about some rumours circulating at the Paul Ricard test last week that he had even agreed a new deal, Coulthard said: "Contractual issues are always confidential so there is nothing more I can say until such time when Red Bull feels it appropriate."