DC: Pitstop bungle cost me podium chance

McLaren's David Coulthard says that the pitstop foul-up, during which he ran over his own refueller, cost him a shot at finishing on the podium in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours today (Sunday)

Jul 6, 2003, 2:36 PM

Coulthard was right on the tail of his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen before his third and final pitstop, but lost vital seconds when the fuel hose had to be swapped. He then clipped his refueller as he tried to leave the pits, and was forced to come to a halt once again.

"Unfortunately there were a couple of problems during my third pitstop," he said. "Initially the fuel nozzle didn't attach correctly and we had to use the second one and then struggled when we had to remove it. The lollipop was raised, so I went. It was a messy pitstop. Fortunately nobody was injured in the incident but I lost a possible third place."

In total, his stop was timed at 17.4secs, although he finished just 2.2secs behind Raikkonen, who struggled in the last few laps with a rear brake disc failure.

Coulthard will hope for better luck in his home event, the British GP at Silverstone, but admitted: "It would have been nicer to have gone there with a better result."