13/07/2004
NEWS STORY
Just a couple of days after the British Grand Prix, David Coulthard returns to Silverstone as McLaren begins its final test before the summer break.
A few weeks ago, after seven rounds of the world championship, it was all doom and gloom down at Woking, as the team struggled on 5 points. Double points finishes in the Canadian and United States events followed by the successful introduction of the MP4-19B however, has seen the multi-championship winning team add a further 27 points to its tally and close to within nine points of fourth-placed WilliamsF1.
As BAR appears to suffer a mid-season hiccough, David Coulthard suddenly finds himself in with a good chance of adding to his thirteen victories and beating Jenson Button to become the first Briton to win a Grand Prix this season.
When one considers that the Scot has yet to find a drive for 2005, this reversal of fortune couldn't have happened at a better time.
Ahead of the summer break, which usually precedes the 'silly season', David finally feels he has the opportunity to prove himself.
"Though I did not have the best weekend at Silverstone, I'm very positive," he told the Daily Telegraph. "We go back there this week to test, which should help me with the set-up problems I had during the race. Overall the mechanical balance of the car has picked up a lot. The stiffness of the car is better and the engine power has improved.
"We now have a car capable of winning again," he continued. "It would not have taken much for Kimi to be a winner at Silverstone. I believe I can win a race this season. We have an aggressive development programme ahead, which means we have to be optimistic. Ferrari are going to mess up at some point. They can't keep the run going forever."
Meanwhile, team boss Ron Dennis insists there will be no favouritism, and that the Scot will have the same equipment as teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
"David will get exactly the same equipment," he told The Guardian, "right up to the last race. "We have never been a team which gives one driver any sort of preferential treatment over the other."
Jaguar and Toyota are the two teams that the Scot is being linked to.