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David Coulthard Q&A

David Coulthard's title hopes have begun to look ever more remote after his early retirement at Silverstone - the result of a first corner clash with Jordan's Jarno Trulli. Inevitably the pair had different views about what happened, but the outcome was damaged suspension that pitched DC into the gravel on the third lap. In typical fashion after the race, he was cool, calm and collected, and made sure he was one of the first to congratulate his team mate Mika Hakkinen, after finding him at the post-race weight checks. Adam Cooper spoke to him immediately afterwards



"It's disappointing that Jarno and I came together and I damaged the suspension. It doesn't really matter whether it's a difference of opinion, the end result is that we both don't finish the race. It was a good day for Mika, and it's good for the team that he's back up there, and obviously it means Michael doesn't pull away quite as much. I think this track obviously helped us a little bit. I'm a little bit surprised by Ferrari's strategy. It's not the quickest way to win this race, and it seemed a bit slow. We'll see. Germany's a different track altogether, and that may play into Williams's hands."



"I just said, 'Welcome back,' because it's a long time since he won a race, and he obviously deserved to win in Barcelona. And he's had a tough year. Before everything started I just wanted to recognise it."



"Absolutely. It's good. He's obviously capable of winning races, and it's good that at Silverstone, in the absence of me being able to win, that he can win for the team."



"Yes, there only is one line through the corner of course, and I had track position and I was ahead. I knew he'd got up alongside me, but two into one doesn't go. You rely on one or the other giving way, and naturally I didn't feel that it was my position to do so, because I had the lead [on Trulli], but he probably felt that I would. It's just unfortunate that we went out on the first corner."



"I thought I was going into the barrier, but I was obviously determined to keep the car going. And I got on the radio when I was going through Becketts because I knew there was damage to the rear suspension, and they said they'd check the data. Eventually it just caught me out, but we were on a road to nowhere. But these things happen."



"Yes, it was fun just having a wee battle with those guys, but I knew that was it, game over."



"In reality we've been losing ground in the championship because we've had so many little technical problems. But what's important then in the absence of that is individual pace, and Ferrari still have the legs on us in qualifying, but we've got a good race car, and we know that."



"Yes. It's more difficult of course, but it's still open."

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