31/03/2006
NEWS STORY
Having lost out once to Juan Pablo Montoya, when the Colombian took his seat at McLaren, David Coulthard has no intention of allowing history to repeat itself at Red Bull.
At the end of 2004, there were fears that the Scot's F1 career was at an end. Dropped by McLaren in favour of Montoya, Coulthard seemed destined for the F1 scrapheap, or at the very least one of F1's also-rans.
Then came Red Bull's purchase of Jaguar, but this was soon followed by Dietrich Mateschitz' claim that he wasn't interested in the thirteen time Grand Prix winner.
However, a change of heart, proved beneficial for both parties; Coulthard's career got a much needed boost, and his image a non-corporate makeover, while Red Bull got the benefit of a driver who, after 180 Grands Prix, was still capable of fighting for points and wins.
Now however, as Juan Pablo Montoya waits to see who McLaren will choose to partner Fernando Alonso, the Colombian is preferring not to put all his eggs in one basket, and is making no secret of the fact that he is looking elsewhere.
One of the teams that has attracted his attention is Red Bull, which besides having plenty of 'folding stuff', is recruiting some of the best people in the business, leading some F1 insiders to tip the Austrian owned outfit as a potential race winner in 2007.
Speaking to reporters in Melbourne however, Coulthard made it clear that he has no intention of doing all the groundwork only for Montoya to, once again, reap the rewards.
"He has just got to shut up and get on with it," snapped the Scot, when asked about Montoya's claim that he is interested in the Red Bull seat. "I can't comment on rumours, I can only comment on fact.
"The statistics show that relative to Kimi, he has not done as well as I did," he continued. "I know that McLaren use that type of information to make decisions, and he simply has not done anything remarkable... one year in, he has had a clear indication from McLaren that they are not that impressed."