DC prepared for RBR challenge

Having driven solely for Williams and McLaren in his first 11 years of F1, Coulthard has been accustomed to starting each grand prix weekend with the opportunity to fight for a podium position at the very least. This is unlikely to be the case with RBR, but according to DC: "the challenge is still the same."

"I enjoy racing and I love what I do," he said. "If I have a chance to drive at the top of the sport - whether it is in the middle of the grid or at the bottom of the grid - it is still F1.

"Of course McLaren and Red Bull are not in the same league but I am here with a highly motivated group of people and I think I can play my part in taking it forward.

"At the beginning of last year Kimi (Raikkonen) and I were getting lapped, so we worked hard at it. You don't give up just because you don't have a car capable of winning - you take it forward."

Much has been made of the fact that Coulthard has only signed a one-year contract with RBR, the inference perhaps being that if he tires of midfield life after a single season then the team can hand his seat to one of its young proteges (Vitantonio Liuzzi and Christian Klien). Coulthard warned against reading too much into contract lengths however, and suggested that he might be at Red Bull for the long haul.

"This is just year one of a multi-year project," he said. "How long I'm involved in the project depends very much on how things develop this year.

"(A longer contract) was part of the initial conversation, but they don't know what engine they are going to run in 2006, I don't know how I'm going to perform in 2005, or whether or not I fit in... so why tie yourself to something? Or why should they tie themselves to me?

"I want to see if we enjoy it, and we perform then we'll continue. If we don't, we won't. It's as simple as that.

"Ultimately if there is a contract and things are not working out then it's not worth anything. A lot of people place a lot of importance on the length of the contract, but if we don't want to turn up next week then we don't turn up.

"I go into this fully committed and with a realistic view, and we'll see what happens."