AUGUST 3, 2004

David Coulthard and Jaguar Racing

There has been speculation for months that David Coulthard might be the perfect man to replace Mark Webber at Jaguar Racing in 2005 but our sources in the team said that there was no chance of that deal happening as the team was not willing to pay a lot of money for a star driver, arguing that the money is better spent developing the cars and bringing on new drivers. This year however has given the team a new perspective as Christian Klien has taken longer than expected to find his feet in F1 and the team may not be looking at the situation and concluding that it might be wiser to have a driver with experience, so long as he is not too expensive.

David Coulthard would thus be a possible choice for the team because he has already made it clear that his chief priority is not money but having the right technical package. The question that really needs to be answered is what constitutes a lot of money and judging by the rumours at the moment there is some difference between what Coulthard thinks and what Jaguar Racing believes. Leaks in the British newspapers, no doubt intended to get the message across to Coulthard, have been the result of these exchanges.

Coulthard is also in the running at Sauber but it may be that he concludes that the Jaguar Racing package has more potential than the Sauber given the speed of the green cars on occasion this year and the fact that Sauber has struggled with its Bridgestone tyres this year.