Pole winner's conference: Coulthard

Q. David, we saw some hard driving from you at the end of the session. Are you pleased with your performance, in spite of being second fastest?

David Coulthard: Yes, I am very happy with the way the weekend has gone so far. The first time I have really been able to drive the car in the wet was yesterday and it seemed quite well balanced, as it was in
the dry.

The only thing that stood in the way me trying to take pole position from Mika was that bit of over-driving at the beginning of my final run. I heard a funny noise over my radio and missed my braking [for Turn 1]. When you have flat-spotted a tyre, like I did there, if you over-brake again, the tyre will always return to the same flat spot to lock up again, so you have to be very careful.

In the end I still thought I could have gone quicker, so I feel happy with my performance. Second place on the grid isn't the absolute best but at least I showed my most competitive performance ever at this circuit.

I feel very strong for the race tomorrow. Last year I had a mechanical problem which forced me to abandon my last qualifying runs, so looking at figures doesn't always tell the full story.

I could have been quicker than Mika here today and now I feel confident about the race. The car feels really together and the back end is nice and stable. I'm looking forward to the race.

Q. Mika said he didn't have full confidence in his car at the beginning of the session. Were you still altering your chassis setup, too?

David Coulthard: I only made a couple of small adjustments to the car, because basically I was too cautious on the first run and too aggressive on the second. As I said earlier, the only thing that stood between me and pole position was a couple of small mistakes on my part.

We have to wait and see what happens tomorrow. The pit lane is significantly different from past years, so that will be a distraction.

Q. What differences to your strategy have been dictated by the pit lane alterations?

David Coulthard: I prefer not to elaborate, because that will give everyone an indication of what we intend to do. However, it does change the way you look at the race. The time it takes to make a pit stop is obviously important to strategy, and the only reason to have mentioned it today is because it is so different from last year.