The Paddock Elder

The 2004 Japanese GP was a landmark of sorts for Michael Schumacher. With Olivier Panis taking early retirement to make way at Toyota for Jarno Trulli, for the first time Michael was the oldest driver on a Grand Prix grid. The thought hadn't occurred to the Ferrari ace until I pointed it out to him in Tokyo a few days before the race. His bemused reaction implied that, like so many other numbers, this was not a statistic that held much interest for him...

Nevertheless, Schumacher had the honour of being oldest driver throughout 2005 and 2006, and now that he has retired, he's handed the baton to David Coulthard.

The Scot is still only 35, and turns 36 in the break between the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix. As such he must be one of the youngest 'oldest' drivers the sport has seen, reflecting the fact that the average age of the grid has tumbled over the years. Nevertheless, oldest he most definitely is. And that means he'll be under scrutiny as the year goes on, and the inevitable questions are asked about his future.

This will be DC's third year at Red Bull Racing, and he does not have a done deal with the team for 2008. In the mean time he's up against Mark Webber in what promises to be an interesting confrontation between two guys who have much in common.

It's a line-up that still surprises, not least because of Red Bull's emphasis on their young driver programme. Webber is there at the expense of his former Jaguar teammate Christian Klien, dropped before the end of last season after he fell out of favour.

That decision was an unusual one at a time when there is clearly a changing of the guard, and everyone is looking for the next quick youngster. Coulthard insists that teams should think more about experience.

Christian Klien, Red Bull RB2 Ferrari © LAT

"These are kids, and yes the talent is there at a young age, but you have to be round the block a few times to battle a Michael, or something like that," says Coulthard. "I understand the youth culture, and I'm not sensitive to it because of my age, but I started in F1 at 24, and I was still young. So I can't imagine what it must be like for them at 21. Mum packs your bag and off you go to a Grand Prix! It doesn't affect your ability to drive the car, but at a certain point you have to stand on your own two feet.

"You wouldn't stick a kid at the head of a company, but there seems to be a desire to put kids representing the company without giving them the experience necessary. Christian came straight in with the team. I'm not saying my opinion is the right one, it's just my opinion. I don't see why you'd want to rush these guys through - give them a chance to grow."

DC has made it clear that it was a case of too much, too soon for Klien, and that he should have been given more experience before moving up with Jaguar in 2004.

"I don't employ the drivers so I don't know what he needed to achieve - other than consistently going quicker than myself - to maintain his position in the team," says Coulthard. "Maybe it was never going to be possible if he wasn't doing that. I don't know is the truthful answer. But I think Christian is a fast young racing driver who has got a lot of potential, but as I've said before, I think he was just rushed through too quickly."

The irony is that Klien didn't do too badly last year, and was even ahead of DC when his car failed him at Monaco. But both drivers were hamstrung by the generally mediocre performance of the RB2. The move to Ferrari engines was not the fix that some hoped it would be, and the problems caused by the embarrassing misunderstanding over the Italian V8's cooling requirements left the team struggling to catch up.

"The reality is that things went wrong effectively when we first ran the car and we had a cooling issue. That was in December, and we didn't appear to solve that before we started running again in January, and then it took us a lot of time to get on top of that. All the time that you are trying to solve a fundamental issue you are not manufacturing development parts.

"As I sit here I can't actually recall our most competitive race other than Monaco. There was a little bit of good fortune with other people having reliability issues, but that's racing. I don't think any of us can feel particularly happy with how we performed, and that made it difficult for me to really feel like I'm on top of my form as well, because it's very difficult to read the car variation from circuit to circuit.

After all those years with Cosworth, was the switch to Ferrari a bigger shock for the team than had been anticipated?

"Bear in mind that we were going from V10 to V8, so there was always going to be a wee bit of recalculating. But inevitably when you work with new people you have to find how that relationship is. We had identified that it would be better for us to move, in the same way that Williams have spent a year with Cosworth and then they decided that it was best for them to move. It is what it is, you've got to try and pick what you believe is the best power plant that you can afford to buy and put in the car."

David Coulthard (Red Bull RB2 Ferrari) runs behind Fernando Alonso (Renault R26) and Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren MP4-21 Mercedes) at the Monaco Grand Prix © LAT

At least there was Monaco, where many inherent car problems can be overcome. Coulthard was on great form all weekend. Some retirements ahead helped him on to the podium, but it should be remembered that he would have started better than seventh had he not been impeded in qualifying by Giancarlo Fisichella.

"Monaco was the big result of the year, and obviously I was delighted to be back on the podium. It was my 61st podium, and it had been a long time since I'd been on the podium. It was the dream scenario for Red Bull, and it was very important after all the hard work from the guys on the race team, the test team and the departments back at the factory that are working at 100%. It was a reward for them. But inevitably we are still going through the growing pains of how we can strengthen the team, how can we get more out of each other."

Of course if you're going to have a podium somewhere, Monaco is the place to do it. It's a huge event for any sponsor, and Red Bull pulled out all the stops with their "Superman Returns" movie promotion.

"For those who look at the energy station and us painting the car with comic book heroes, and who might think we're not focused on the job, to be able to pull off a result like that makes the whole thing worthwhile.

"But quite clearly in the second year of the team we underperformed in terms of points, and didn't show a sizable performance gap to last year's car, which is effectively what Toro Rosso were running. This season we have to believe we can take a significant step, otherwise we're nowhere."

As he says, even DC struggles to think of other highlights. But fifth in the wet in Hungary was pretty respectable, as he used every ounce of experience to bring the car safely home.

"As you say, having experience helps. It doesn't mean that you don't make mistakes; it doesn't mean you get it right all the time. It's just sometimes you see the bigger picture."

Another visit to the points was made in Australia, albeit at the expense of Scott Speed. The American was not impressed when his fellow Red Bull man put forward his case about being passed under yellows, but DC is unrepentant. It's every man for himself out there.

"That was obviously a bit of a tense moment between the two Red Bull-owned teams. But I'm a racer, and I race within the rules. Some people have suggested that I shouldn't have done anything that showed a battle between the teams, but I'm not employed to just accept scenarios, I'm employed to fight for every piece of track and every point. And that's what I did, irrespective of who it is. Ultimately the stewards supported what I saw to be the case. That was the beginning and end of the story, really."

Last season saw David reunited with Adrian Newey, the man he worked with at both Williams and McLaren - and who was responsible for all the cars with which he won Grands Prix. The pair enjoy a special rapport and have a mutual respect for each other's abilities.

Adrian Newey and David Coulthard © LAT

"The great thing with Adrian is that he has been there and done that. He's just got clarity of thought, he's not ego-driven, and he's not looking for anything other than performance. There are a lot of people who inevitably have had to change their view of how good their department or the job they're doing is, because he has raised the bar."

At Red Bull Racing, Newey has a more wide-ranging role than he had at McLaren, and clearly has input into a lot of areas. Is he thriving on that?

"I think that's really a question for Adrian. He appears to be reasonably relaxed in the role. I'm not at the factory every day, but I'm told that he's working hard, cranking out the designs, and putting in the hours."

The question that remains to be answered is can one man really make the difference - and if so, how long will the process take?

"I don't know the answer to the second part, but can one man make a difference? Yes, of course, because you lead from the front. If the people that were there before haven't achieved more than they have, you have to presume that mix isn't right.

"So I fail to see how Adrian can weaken that mix, with the results he's had in the past. He's not going to build the part, he's not going to lay up the carbon, he's not going to do all those aspects of it, so he relies on our production department, he relies on the design office to give them the designs. So we all rely on each other. It's the classic cliche, you're only as strong as your weakest link. No one can hide in F1.

"You have to believe that all the changes that have been made were for the right reasons. Time will tell. We won't know until we see how the new car runs."

Of course, that's a sentiment shared by everyone this winter. With so many driver movements and the switch to Bridgestone tyres, there are a lot of unknowns.

"I think it's going to be interesting, isn't it? I don't think that Fernando [Alonso] is quicker than Kimi [Raikkonen], so on the face of it Kimi is making the better move. But a lot of things have changed. I don't know, but you've got to presume that the usual suspects will be at the front.

"But then no one would have presumed that Ferrari would be so poor in 2005. Everyone can blame it on the tyres, but they had the chance to develop those tyres in the same way that they had the chance to develop them any other year. We just have to be patient, and see what comes."