133 replies to this topic

[UPRC]

I've always supported Coulthard, but this year.. I just don't know what to say.

Four races, three questionable incidents. In each one, Coulthard seemed to close the door on whomever was trying to pass him. Each time, it looks incredibly bad and in poor judgement, no matter which driver is responsible.

What do you guys think about Coulthard's peculiar form so far? Not only is he becoming accident-prone, but his pace is starting to look a little iffy.

What do you think?

[NineOneSeven]

I think Mass Vs DC was DC's fault. Button Vs DC was again DC's fault, however the latest incident was not of DC's making and so I think he's just unlucky.

DC does seem to be getting a little long in the tooth. Maybe he would find it better trying something like ALM's or the Le MAns 24 endurance events.

DC never did enough to keep up with Mika or Michael.. he had his shot, maybe he's done. Still early days in the season i'd like to see his performances in the next two races and see what happens.

[lukywill]

too much red bull gives you strong wings.

(not at paris.)

[BMW_F1]

Behaviour problem plus reflexes not as good as before. In other words when he commits to a line there's no way in hell that he'll react quick enough to avoid hitting another car. He does not know how to race with other cars around him.

[lukywill]

dc finish klien's f1 way. out of luck.


but the cocacola redbull rules.

[lukywill]

rubens is schooling him.

[Buttoneer]

Interesting point for discussion but the poll just devalues the thread. His 'problem' can't just be pigeonholed into one or more 'options' of your choosing.

A few years ago we were told (and I recall DC telling us) that he had problems with single lap qualifying. nowadays we get all sorts of excuses about why he's not getting on with a more flexible 20/15 minute qualifying period. Then in races he seems to be coming together with other drivers far too regularly. But is this because he is a seasoned pro with a wider than average car which simply creates impatience in the car behind? Then there's the incidents where he has been over ambitious and I need to try and find a whole new reason.

Sad to say it though, I don't enjoy watching him race anymore. I don't agree with those who say he was never any good, but it's becoming clear that this year he just doesn't seem to be able to cut it.

I'd like to see Seabass in his car instead...

[UPRC]

Originally posted by Buttoneer
I'd like to see Seabass in his car instead...

Ditto. Hopefully next year.

[Villes Gilleneuve]

Imagine DC's position. Once #2 to the fastest team and podium every race, now on a fourth-tier team doing circles for 2 hours with the faint hope of getting 8th.
He's bored, he's stopped looking in his mirrors.

Troll around and collect millions before retiring to Monaco. F1 needs to get rid of this.

[undersquare]

I wasn't sure about the Massa one, but with Jense and Glock he moved over a bit, a bit late, forcing them right to the inside, and then took the apex as though they weren't there.

The Jense collision was definitely caused by this, Jense would have had room otherwise because he would have had more grip and the apex. Glock was being more optimistic and maybe should take 50% of the blame, but still you have to say DC knew he was there, so why turn in?

Attitude problem - rather make a point than finish the race.

[Massa_f1]

whats wrong with dc?

He is getting worse every season simple.

[potmotr]

I think he's suffering from being in the midfield minefield. If he could qualify stronger he'd have no trouble bringing it home in the points.
Whatever happens this season, he is so respected by Red Bull management that they'll allow him to step aside in an honourable way (ie: he'll decide to retire) rather than being booted.

[saudoso]

I don't think it's DC. It's the new cockpit. The same happened to NP & SB this weekend.

The thing with DC is that he seems to believe the guy behind him won't move more often, because they just can't see what's going on at 8 & 4 o'clock

[lukywill]

he is bringing his friendship with villeneuve alive. the child of him is coming into a halt in his despair hotels.

[Clatter]

Originally posted by saudoso
I don't think it's DC. It's the new cockpit. The same happened to NP & SB this weekend.

The thing with DC is that he seems to believe the guy behind him won't move more often, because they just can't see what's going on at 8 & 4 o'clock

I agree.

MB has commented often that the positioning of the wing mirrors is poor, and requires the driver to turn his head rather than just move his eyes. Once into the braking zone the driver is concentrating on the corner, and does not have time to start twisting his head around.

As MB is DC's manager, I think there is a good chance they have discussed this, and the comments that MB makes is probably what DC thinks as well.

[Buttoneer]

Originally posted by saudoso
I don't think it's DC. It's the new cockpit.

And why did they decide to change the cockpit sides...?

[turin]

OT: I think lukywill should put Ran-tan-plan as his avatar, considering how much we can understand from his posts....

[Sakae]

Originally posted by UPRC
I've always supported Coulthard, but this year.. I just don't know what to say.

Four races, three questionable incidents. In each one, Coulthard seemed to close the door on whomever was trying to pass him. Each time, it looks incredibly bad and in poor judgement, no matter which driver is responsible.

What do you guys think about Coulthard's peculiar form so far? Not only is he becoming accident-prone, but his pace is starting to look a little iffy.

What do you think?

Desperate...? Maybe it's called mid-life crisis when you realize that you never get married and have no childern.

_________

Implied ;)

[VoidNT]

Drivers age differently: Villeneuve became hopelessly slow, Hakkinen desperately unlucky, Schumacher increasingly error-prone. And DC has just become a crash-magnet

[ex Rhodie racer]

Well, I critizised him over the winter and was shot down for it in no uncertain terms. I said he was keeping a young charger out and I stand by my statement.
The lad is past it, but just too lazy to get a real job I guess. Use by date expired awhile ago, and I wouldn´t miss him if he decided to go fishing instead. Nice enough guy though I suppose.

[Keir]

David, very simply, is trying too hard.

[Ricardo F1]

I don't know, after the two incidents before one has to wonder whether Glock thought he try an completely unlikely move to see if DC was paranoid and just moved over. He didn't. The Massa and Button issues were DC's problem - Glock's attempt showed that even with those two things just behind him he's not going to roll over.

[wrighty]

Originally posted by Keir
David, very simply, is trying too hard.

i'd respectfully disagree.......it's not like we're seeing DC throw it off into the scenery regularly, but as the OP mentions he's caused 3 accidents in 4 races by turning in on cars who 'shouldnt have been there' apparently.......Brundle suggested that the wide-position mirrors aren't helping the problem but i'd suggest any team that's so inflexible as to leave the driver with redundant mirrors needs a serious talking to about safety on track and car longevity (lets face facts, cars last longer when they don't have other cars climbing on them lol).

I fear the reason may be that DC's leaving himself a small 'comfort zone' (fairs fair, it comes with experience to us all) and the drivers around him aren't.....

[MortenF1]

Nothing's wrong. He just haven't got a break yet. He was quick in Bahrain but finished ninth, and he was on course for eight last Sunday but became the victim of a clumsy overtaking manouver by a rookie.

He needs a smooth-running weekend. That's all.

....btw, saying DC is lazy shows a gross lack of insight.

[BMW_F1]

apparently he referred to Sato and Anthony as the "stupid Aguris.."
what a dick.. he should stop calling drivers names already and concentrate on his performances.

It is definitely an attitude problem.

[Orrelto]

Originally posted by race addicted
Nothing's wrong. He just haven't got a break yet. He was quick in Bahrain but finished ninth, and he was on course for eight last Sunday but became the victim of a clumsy overtaking manouver by a rookie.

He needs a smooth-running weekend. That's all.

....btw, saying DC is lazy shows a gross lack of insight.

It's mostly bad luck (and maybe bad mirrors). And it's tough to look quick against Webber.

[UPRC]

Originally posted by BMW_F1
apparently he referred to Sato and Anthony as the "stupid Aguris.."
what a dick.. he should stop calling drivers names already and concentrate on his performances.

It is definitely an attitude problem.

Totally agree. His comments on Massa in Australia were definitely over the line, considering they were being broadcast on live TV.

[SevenTwoSeven]

Does he still wear his 'lucky pants' ? I seem to recall reading about them after a leg breaking shunt at spa some years (decades) ago. Or was it then that he ditched them because as the medics took his race suit off, there he was in those 'lucky pants' which were unwashed and full of holes and the 'DC' tackle was there for all to see!

Think Hakkinen had a 'lucky snail or tortoise' called brian or somthing secreted in his car by mechanics also if memory serves me correctly.

[Josta]

What's wrong with Coulthard?

His chin. It looks too much like Roger Ramjets. Oh, and he is Scottish, meaning he is probably a drug addict or an alcoholic, or probably both.

[Craven Morehead]

Originally posted by Orrelto


It's mostly bad luck (and maybe bad mirrors). And it's tough to look quick against Webber.

word

[dawg_7529]

I MISS THE OPTION BECAUSE MARTIN BRUNDLE IS HIS TRAINER/MANAGER EVERYTHING GOES WRONG

[William Hunt]

It is tough to look quick next to Webber, who is a qualifying expert, for sure. Still DC has been involved in quite a lot of accidents this year and in most cases it was his fault but he never wants to take the blame.

He also should show some more respect to back markers (he called the Super Agruri's "stupid Aguri's" last weekend) , he never had to drive a car similar to the Super Aguri, he probably wouldn't do better than Sato or Davidson, in fact I suspect he would be involved in even more accidents with such a slow car.

Don't understand me wrong, I like DC, he is still a solid driver althoug not as fast as he used to be, but he should really show some respect to other competitors in less competitive cars and look more in his mirrors! I suspect that this is his final season.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Originally posted by VoidNT
Drivers age differently: Villeneuve became hopelessly slow, Hakkinen desperately unlucky, Schumacher increasingly error-prone. And DC has just become a crash-magnet

This doesn't make....any...sense.

[sopa]

Nothing is wrong. He lost 0,3 seconds to Webber in Spain in qualifying, which is a usual loss for DC.

Last year Webber was faster than Coulthard almost the whole year, only unreliability denied him from greater point score. DC was also luckier than Klien (recall Monaco '06), who wasn't a spectacular driver. Finally DC has run out of luck (instead of his team-mate) and this doesn't make him look good any more. In my opinion with the new qualifying rule in 2003 DC lost his competitiveness over one lap and has looked hardly spectacular since then (if until 2002 he could fight against his team-mates and was really strong in qualifyings). DC benefitted from the one-tyre-rule in 2005 - in that year grid position wasn't as important as it has been on other seasons. But in other seasons since 2003 - haven't seen anything special from him. Didn't really get the hype he got last year.

[William Hunt]

Indeed Ross, it doesn't.

There are many examples of drivers who were performing fantastic at an older age. Fangio even won titles in his '40s, Jack Brabham was also not the youngest when he won his last title. And let's not forget Regazzoni who was still competitive and even winning for Williams (at Silverstone in 1979), he was 39 then! Coulthard just seems to be a bit non-challant lately, or maybe he just had bad luck.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Who has ever hyped David Coulthard? When the poor guy talks up his own chances, he is crucified forever.

[eoin]

Same problem that he always had- he is too slow. A close grid is highlighting that.

The crashes- Oz was his fault the others were probably more the other driver.

[sopa]

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
Who has ever hyped David Coulthard?

I'm not going to search in archives, but AFAIK quite a fair amount of people thought after last season that DC had been the better driver of the RB duo just thanks to higher points score.

[Mauseri]

DC's problem is that he thinks people will not take the door he left open. He should pay more attention on where the other car is going, and not use two lines thinking 'he will not try pass if I weave like this'

[glorius&victorius]

DC will not like the results of this poll

He already went on the defensive regarding his age, in an interview after the Glock incident.

[MikeTekRacing]

Originally posted by micra_k10
DC's problem is that he thinks people will not take the door he left open. He should pay more attention on where the other car is going, and not use two lines thinking 'he will not try pass if I weave like this'

on the other hand he passed sato exactly like the other guys tried to pass him
watch the pass again, and if you imagine sato doing a "DC" there would have been an accident.
Sato on the other hand knows super aguri don't have any spare parts so he opens the turn and avoids a pointless accident

[pippin]

Yep I say 'Attitude Problem'. Maybe attitude is linked to age/boredom as well. DC simply doesn't care whether he finishes races or not when he's down the back. Mind you I can't explain why he didn't qualify higher up in Spain in the first place. What a complete mess up and you can't say that was down to an attitude problem. :

[Cenotaph]

I vote for something else.

Reason? DC is just bad, he's not doing less than what i expect from him.

[LukeM]

Originally posted by Orrelto


It's mostly bad luck (and maybe bad mirrors). And it's tough to look quick against Webber.

ditto

[VresiBerba]

I voted 'something else' as I simply regard David as an idiot.

I never had a problem with this guy before 2002, I never saw him as anything special either. I was simply indifferent. But then around the time Montoya made it to F1, all that changed, and for some reason so did David. It all started when Montoya accidently spun into David at the Europe GP 2002. David had a serious hissy-fit and went into verbal-mode, telling and calling Montoya all kinds of things, despite Montoya doing everything he could to apologise to the pompous Scott to no avail. It was all downhill from that point.

David laughed at Montoya on an ITV preview taken place at his yacht in Monaco because Montoya ran back to the pit to take the reserve car in the USGP 2004. All because David thought that he was fat, and ran like a fat person.

Then he continued along this path in 2005, after ironically Montoya ousted David from McLaren, when he said, and I quote; "That what happens when fat people exercise" when Montoya had fallen and broken his collar bone. This quote was called 'witty' all around the worlds racing forums. Calling Montoya fat in 2005 was certainly not witty, it was old. It was not funny anymore.

Then the witty Scott basically called Montoya a monkey, and that was just a few weeks before Montoya was announced to defect to Nascar. And I think that Montoya was just fed up being called names and being treated like an idiot. He just had enough, and I partly blame David for that.

Regarding David, allow me to quote Montoya; "What a ****ing idiot". Rant out.

[Melbourne Park]

The car is more reliable this year, and that is making DC look much worse than MW compared to last year, when MW's form was hidden by reliability issues.

[Melbourne Park]

Originally posted by VresiBerba
I voted 'something else' as I simply regard David as an idiot.

I never had a problem with this guy before 2002, I never saw him as anything special either. I was simply indifferent. But then around the time Montoya made it to F1, all that changed, and for some reason so did David. It all started when Montoya accidently spun into David at the Europe GP 2002. David had a serious hissy-fit and went into verbal-mode, telling and calling Montoya all kinds of things, despite Montoya doing everything he could to apologise to the pompous Scott to no avail. It was all downhill from that point.

David laughed at Montoya on an ITV preview taken place at his yacht in Monaco because Montoya ran back to the pit to take the reserve car in the USGP 2004. All because David thought that he was fat, and ran like a fat person.

Then he continued along this path in 2005, after ironically Montoya ousted David from McLaren, when he said, and I quote; "That what happens when fat people exercise" when Montoya had fallen and broken his collar bone. This quote was called 'witty' all around the worlds racing forums. Calling Montoya fat in 2005 was certainly not witty, it was old. It was not funny anymore.

Then the witty Scott basically called Montoya a monkey, and that was just a few weeks before Montoya was announced to defect to Nascar. And I think that Montoya was just fed up being called names and being treated like an idiot. He just had enough, and I partly blame David for that.

Regarding David, allow me to quote Montoya; "What a ****ing idiot". Rant out.

The only issue I have with that, is the selectivity of the press, where they quote just bits and pieces.

Hey - you just did that too - the "f**king idiot" from JPM was about an intrusive camera man who crashed his giant lens into Monty's head. That got plastered around the world, but if it had of been me, I'd have used much worse language.

and Monty was criticized by Sir Frank for eating burgers wasn't he? I think JPM was quite verbal against MS - JPM used the press for his promotion of himself being equal to MS. It was fun too! IMO JPM has a fat looking face - with some surgical work on his face, everyone would have thought him skinny as ... its a strange world, but because it was a talking point the press would grab any such comments IMO. I don't much blame DC for that, the whole political correctness lack of talking is appalling in today's F1 drivers. JPM did talk, so to accuse DC for doing the same is somewhat hypocritical IMO. Rant over too!

[BMW_F1]

DC is a not a very good race car driver but his personality is even worse. His problem with Juan was seeing him be the center of attention which is something himself never was, and on top of that, he would have never thought he would be forced out of Mclaren in favor of Juan.

[SlateGray]

I think DC is at the point where he can do or say anything he wants everyone knows he is just about done so now is his chance to tell us what he really thinks and that mindset is being expressed on track with a more aggressive some may say reckless style, He is like a lame duck pres. can do what ever the f he wants and noting goanna happen to change it.

That or he is drinking more than the prescribed two Red Bulls per day, perhaps a switch to sugar free.

[SlateGray]

Originally posted by BMW_F1
DC is a not a very good race car driver

Thats why he has been in F1 the past 14 years because he "is not a very good race car driver."