David Coulthard Q&A

"Clearly as you heard from the crowd, they're not happy about it. But this sport, as in cycling or other team sports, does allow for teams to contractually favour one driver over another. It happens in the Tour de France and things like that. No one complains about it there. It's just not as accepted and understood in this sport because it's not so often that drivers have clear number one and number two contracts."



"I think we all know the answer to that. I just don't want to get drawn into it. The facts are that Rubens signed a contract that enables the team to call on him, and that's the beginning and end of it. But we're all fans of the sport, and ultimately it's not particularly as we romantically imagine a Grand Prix to be. But if you go back to go Fangio's day, or Stirling Moss, these guys used to get out of a car and give it to someone else, or their team mates would get out and give them a whole car. Nothing's really changed to the spectator."



"I think fifth was as much as I could have hoped for. I got caught out by the oil into Turn 8, and then Fisi made a good move on me because I was just coming back on the track. So naturally I'm disappointed in that, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. I've been very fortunate in the past with yellows, and at the beginning of the race I kept out of trouble with Nick [Heidfeld]. I was beside him when he lost the back end, and I kept out of trouble there. In a situation like that, although I'm personally disappointed that I got caught out on the oil, as a team it only cost us a point."



"I thought it was cold brakes, as far as I was concerned. I was marginal under braking. I was passing him and I decided to brake at about 120m, when it's normally about 100m would be our limit. I just knew the brakes were going to grab. My rear was grabbing, and I think he just got a sudden shock of heat into those carbon brakes, and that was it."



"It was horrible. When I saw it, and I came around and saw there was still a driver in the car, I feared the worst. That was a big impact, and I'm glad to hear that Taku's OK."



"Yes, but the Bridgestone was a good tyre round here. We had a bit of a fuelling issue at the pit stop, so we were running a little bit heavier. And if you actually look at qualifying there wasn't such a big gap from where we were to where they were. I think you can compare us to the Michelin runners."



"He pulled a great move on me. Knowing how mad he is, I thought, 'Right, I'm making it quite clear where I'm going here,' and I braked as late as I could. With Jacques you know it's either going to be a great move, or it's going to end up in the gravel. And he pulled a great move."



"Traction control-wise we weren't too bad there last year, because our pace was good. Although maybe Renault have been looking quite good in that area this year, there's no reason why that could be a hindrance. Tyre-wise, Eddie Irvine was fifth or sixth on the grid, so Michelin weren't too bad there. So we might be a little bit more competitive. We've got the downforce."



"We should be more competitive, but the good cars will still be the good cars. It's still going to be difficult. Ferrari, you can forget it, and Williams are still going to be very strong."



"It's never more important than anywhere else, once everyone knows the track and is up to speed. If someone is coming to Monaco for the first time, you may have an advantage over them, but once they've been there once... You don't get big surprises, do you? You don't get Mark Webber on pole position. He's a good driver, but the car is not going to allow him to get there."