Frustrated Coulthard Blames Radio Problems

Scot David Coulthard was left to rue a missed opportunity after finishing tenth in Sunday's British Grand Prix - and blamed Sky's F1 Digital for his lowly finish.

The McLaren driver had been set to challenge for a podium finish at Silverstone after running third in the early stages. But as rain fell Coulthard failed to pit to change his tyres after a communications problem with his team.

Coulthard revealed that he had been unable to let his team know he wanted to pit for a tyre change because F1 Digital coverage was playing on McLaren's radio frequency.

"It was difficult to try to let them know what tyres I wanted and when I was coming in because the F1 Digital feed was on our radio," said Coulthard. "The mechanics could hear me but the pit wall couldn't because they had something else broadcasting on their radio. It made a lot of confusion.

"We couldn't get all of the information and I found it very difficult to know when I was supposed to do things. It just added to the frustration. I radioed in to say I wanted to come in but we didn't get the confirmation and you saw the guys weren't ready for me. I came in and I did say to the team 'I warned you'."

Coulthard slid off the track four times as he struggled in the wet conditions when running on dry tyres as his podium hopes were sent spinning. But he refused to criticise his McLaren team and insisted that he will come back stronger at the next race in Magny-Cours in two weeks time.

"It would be wrong to be critical of the team in the situation because you can only react to scenarios that you have," he added. "Without the radio problem we would have done the right thing. It was a terrible afternoon and one of the things that made it that way was the problem with the radio feed.

"It's disappointing but I've been in this sport for long enough to know that you just have to put races behind you and Magny-Cours here we come."

Fellow Scot Allan McNish failed to complete a single lap, while Eddie Irvine and Jenson Button rounded off a miserable day for the Brits as they both retired.