David Coulthard Q&A

"To be honest I was a bit uncertain what to expect. It is the longest I haven't driven the car since 1994 because I have always done the December testing in the past. But when December 1 came around I was quite glad we weren't out there because the accumulation of a year's testing and promotional work does catch up on you. I really enjoyed that extra time off and I think it has helped."



"I was surprised actually. It is one of the disappointments of this test. I obviously need longer out the car to be impressed with the speeds and everything because on the first lap I felt very comfortable with the speeds and everything. I was driving to the airport the day before the test with two people in the car and I was scaring myself, let alone them! Racing cars are designed for speed and my first timed lap was a 1m22.4 and I ended up going two seconds quicker. It is a big chunk of time but on the track it is only a matter of a few metres here and a few metres there. You just brake a bit later and accelerate a bit earlier."



"I don't want to say too much because it helps Bridgestone as much as it helps ourselves. There is not the night and day difference that everyone would think looking at the design concept, the feedback from Michelin drivers during the year that I heard and understanding what we did about the Bridgestone tyre. I think what is impressive is the very calm commitment to how our car works with the tyre and the information they are able to give us to help us through that process."



"There are some differences and clearly in the way the tyre performs, but it is too early to say the difference. And clearly also I don't want to say what the little differences are because it can help other people as much as it help ourselves. We need to keep our head down and help Michelin to understand the range of tyres that we already have. It is interesting to go through that process."



"You never actually come away from a test knowing that is as fast as you can go, but equally it doesn't tell the opposition are up to. That is great when you have a car advantage but not so great like last year when Ferrari were better than us. That is the way we go about our testing programme. None of us will know where we are and there will be all sorts of speculation between here and Melbourne about who is doing what. But you would have to be brave to bet against Ferrari being the benchmark."



"I've had two nights out with him, which is always a good way to get to know someone. I was very happy with the way the relationship developed and the truth of the relationship will be how we work together. It is very easy to get along with someone in a non-competitive situation. He is more than capable of doing the job, he is pretty quick. We will be sizing each other up when we get to the races. I believe that he has the maturity to know that we have to work together to help us move forward but I wouldn't expect more of him than I would give in return. I don't intend to give more than it takes to develop the car and that is fair enough."



"I never felt as a junior driver, even when I was at Williams. You just get on and do your job. It was not that long ago that I was a young driver starting my Grand Prix career and I remember when I went off people were saying I was very calm and mature for my years. At the end of the day you are just doing what you do. I was driving for a long time, Kimi has been driving for a long time, before we got to F1, and it is the political side and media side that are new and tend to be distracting rather than the driving. He is quick, he will drive the car quickly, and will probably come up with ideas that we haven't thought of."



"I wasn't ready in December and was still mentally tired from everything that had gone on. But my increasing focus has to be ready for this test and I've enjoyed it."