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Rams
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Sep 5 2008, 05:36 PM
Post #1
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Interesting bit about Stefano Domenicali
- Quote:
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Q: Do you see things differently now you've announced your retirement ? How do you live this transitional moment ? Are you convinced of having taken the right decision ? Coulthard: ''Nothing has changed, apart from that I've learnt I will soon become a dad, I will have a son. There are no regrets, but it's all part of a planned process which already started when I left McLaren. At that moment I wasn't yet ready to say goodbye to F1. I still had a lot of energy to move to another team, to help it grow, to develop the car, to create a team. I still had the will to travel around the world, to fight for positions on track. At Red Bull I've found the situation I was looking for. They could also have done it without me, but with my help, my knowledge and my contacts it has happened much quicker up to a point of being a steady force in F1. Then at this point they asked me whether I still had the power, the physical energy and the will to be involved in the next step, which will be to bring RBR to the level of winning a GP. The answer to that was 'no'. Because I now am 37 years of age ad the next step forward would require at least another two years. After 15 years in the world of Formula 1 I now think the moment has arrived to call it a day. I prefer deciding about this myself rather than others doing so for me when my performance is no longer adequate.''
Q: But at your age, physically you're still amongst the ones with the best condition, with a very well trained body that is... Coulthard: ''From a physical point of view the current cars are the most demanding. From the outside it's difficult to understand but a good condition is the essential basis of setting a good laptime. In the past when the drivers were driving turbo- and wing cars, they ended the race being exhausted, on the limit of collapsing or they simply passed out. This happened because their physical preperation wasn't up to standards, not because the cars were more demanding physically or because they were too fast. In fact, if we compare the times, they were around 15 seconds or more a lap slower than is the case now. The number of G forces we have to deal with nowadays is greater than it has ever been, but now no longer anyone passes out. In recent years the physical condition of the drivers has improved in an incredible way. It's like football. There used to be a time in which a driver drank a pint before going onto the pitch. Today it's a completely different world. It's a matter of obtaining a level of fitness that is ever more extreme and which keeps requiring more and more time. Red Bull has a contract with a number of young drivers with which I will continue to work as an advisor and coach. Because my primary interest remains Formula 1, I'm not going to leave this world. But when I look around me I realise that I've participated in too many races, too many GP's.''
Q: Will you limit yourself to testing for Red Bull or will you also be racing in other racing series ? In the past you've already participated at Le Mans with Jaguar. Red Bull is involved in many championships. Why completely stop ? Coulthard: ''What I've said has been a bit misunderstood. At the moment my job is to race in Formula 1, my entire life revolves around this choice. In three months time my life will be different, my priorities will be different. Racing in a different category is a complicated choice, it requires profound analysis, many contacts and a lot of discussions. I'm not saying I don't intend to do it but I'm not doing it now. So at the moment it's just F1, where I'll remain in 2009 testing for Red Bull. I don't exclude the rest but I haven't done anything to analyse the new troubles that (could/will) arise. In November my son will be born, in January I will have to recharge my batteries. Perhaps come March I'll be ready to take into consideration new commitments.''
Q: When a driver decides to retire the successive races may not be easy to tackle. Are you mentally ready to accept the same risks and the same unpleasant situations you would otherwise not ask yourself questions about ? Coulthard: ''It's a process that doesn't influence me because I know the priorities of a racing driver. When I test it's as if I were racing and when I race it's as if I were testing. During tests, which are always the most dangerous moments in this profession, I continue to take risks which are often unnecessary. You always have to push the mechanics to the limit to verify the effectiveness of a new solution. At the wet Fuji GP in 2007 I drove by listening to the car in front of me because there was no visibility at all. At that moment I wasn't thinking about giving up. If we were to face the same conditions during the upcoming Grand Prix' I wouldn't hesitate and simply put my foot down. At Silverstone, after my announcement, I already confronted an extreme situation. Eventhough it rained and I had the wrong tyres mounted on during the first lap, I went into Stowe full throttle without hesitation.''
Q: When you analyse your career do you have the feeling of doing a job that hasn't been brought to an end ? Could you have obtained more ? People expected a lot of you when you started your career... Coulthard: ''Certainly. If I were presented with the same occasions (from the past) and would tackle them with the same experience that I have now and with the same knowledge that I have of life and of racing, I would have won a lot more Grand Prix' and I would have been a better racing driver overall. But I made my debut in F1 with a top team when I was still in a phase in which I had to learn a lot of things. Sometimes I made mistakes, sometimes I've done well, sometimes I was the best. There are photographs of podium ceremonies in which I'm standing in the middle of Schumacher and Hakinen. You don't beat champions of that calibre by accident. I've obtained some nice victories but my weak point probably was the consistency of performance over the course of an entire championship. My performance and my times were often good, whereas those of Schumacher were always good.''
Q: Why this difference in terms of consistency ? Coulthard: ''I've always had a good feeling with the car and inside the cockpit. I couldn't say the same thing when Ron Dennis told me to move over because Hakkinen needed to win. As was the case at Jerez in 1997 or in Melbourne in 1998. Why did I have to move over ? These are things that can become very frustrating if you don't understand them. These are events that have inevitably marked my character as a driver as well as a person. It's the mind that controls the body, not the other way around. To get the maximum result, in each circumstance, you have to feel well and in harmony with yourself and with others. I didn't like events like that, they didn't make me happy and they went on to have a negative influence on my performance over the course of a championship.''
Q: You made your debut in Formula 1 at Williams replacing Senna straight after his death. Wasn't that a bit too much for a young and unexperienced driver like you were in 1994 ? Coulthard: ''It was a very difficult situation. I was the driver that did the tests and I was driving the same car in which Senna got killed. At Monaco, the week after it had happened, I was driving a car that, in all aspects, was exactly the same to the one Senna was driving when he lost his life, nothing had been changed to it. It's normal there's some bafflement and to have some doubts if you find yourself in the same car in which the best driver in the world got killed. If Senna lost his life in that car the same could have happened to me. It was all very difficult.''
Q: What about the expectations at Williams ? Coulthard: ''No, that wasn't the problem. I wasn't Senna, he was better than anyone else. In terms of my character and results, no one could have had the same expectations as the ones they had of Senna. I believed to be a good driver but not as phenomenal like Senna was. That period seems very confusing to me. I remember that little after I had to go to the process that was held in Italy - I testified in defence - Alboreto and others went to testify against. I asked myself: 'why ?'. What kind of role were I to play in that confusion ?''
''In essence I was only the testdriver. The impact on the world of Formula 1 at that moment was pretty problematic, I even thought my adventure could end right there. Then luckily my career developed in a different direction. I've known happy times, I've won numerous Grand Prix', I've once ended second in the championship behind Schumacher. At the end of the day my balance is well positive.''
Q: With 13 Formula 1 victories your amongst the most succesful active drivers. How do you feel about drivers that haven't won as much but are already considered as phenomenons ? Coulthard: ''You always have to look at the present and the future, not at the past. Today and tomorrow is the most important thing, not ten years ago. We cannot change WOII or the bomb on Hiroshima because it already took place. It's right and normal that now the interest goes out to the young drivers, which are the ones to generate the excitement. I have nothing against this attitude of valuation, it's life.''
Q: What is it that prevented you from becoming a worldchampion ? Could you not express your talent in some way or other ? Coulthard: ''My talent is expressed in the best way when it comes to technical development and the work with the team. It's the type of work I will continue to carry out at Red Bull. Perhaps I didn't give it my all when the moment was there in qualifying to forget about everything and start driving like a lunatic. I kept on thinking about how to improve the car, at analysing it's reactions, when, at certain moments you would (simply) need to rise above everything having an aggresive instinct. I've always been good in finding the best set-up, but I've never been a beast on track.''
Q: Fiftheen years in F1 but never with Ferrari. In the past there have been contacts. Do you feel this something you lack ? Coulthard: ''Personally I don't see it as something I lack: also at Mercedes I've had some very happy moments. I've driven for them for nine years, I don't think this would have been possible with Ferrari, therefore I've always had great respect (towards McLaren). Recently something has happened that has positively surprised me. After I announced my retirement I received a letter from Stefano Domenicali. He wished me the best of luck, he's said some kind words about me. I was surprised about this because I've never been a direct competitor of them in the way Hakkinen and Raikkonen were. With Domenicali I've only had a formal relationship: nevertheless the man that is now in charge in Maranello has found the time to write me a letter. A gesture that I appreciated.''
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PiquetFan
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Sep 5 2008, 07:32 PM
Post #2
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