Formula 1
Nothing to lose for Coulthard
McLaren announcing the signing of Juan Pablo Montoya for 2005 does not make David Coulthard's future with the team look very bright. It's widely presumed Coulthard will be the one to make way for Montoya but while the Scot's manager, Martin Brundle, ...
Published: Nov 23, 2003, 8:06 PM
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McLaren announcing the signing of Juan Pablo Montoya for 2005 does not make David Coulthard's future with the team look very bright. It's widely presumed Coulthard will be the one to make way for Montoya but while the Scot's manager, Martin Brundle, admits the announcement was not great news for David, he pointed out that nothing is decided yet.
David Coulthard.
Photo by Brousseau Photo.
"McLaren haven't announced their 2005 driver line-up and they have a contractual position with David going forward," Brundle, a former F1 driver and now commentator, told ITV-F1. "Eighteen months is a long way away. A lot of things happen in F1 in 18 months. We'll see what happens."
"If you look at their respective ages and career profile you'd have to assume that of those trio that McLaren will be thinking of Montoya and Raikonnen. I imagine that most people will suspect David is automatically out, but let's see what happens."
While Brundle conceded that 2003 was not one of Coulthard's best years, he is sure that David will be fighting hard in 2004, and McLaren signing Montoya could be the spur he needs to produce a stellar performance.
"It might turn out to be the best platform for him to go and deliver something consistently special," Brundle commented. "There's nothing to lose now. He's in a straight fight. And there is a lot of racing to go before 2005."
McLaren making the deal public so soon caused a few raised eyebrows and makes for a somewhat uncomfortable 2004 for both itself and Williams. Brundle thinks that as the situation was not unknown within in F1, McLaren simply wanted to get the announcement over and done with.
"It was quite widely known. It would have been to clear the air on that really. It's not something that you want hanging around as you go into the season," he remarked. "For McLaren it clears it out of the system. They now have three world class drivers which must be good for business."
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