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THE DAVID COULTHARD MUSEUM

Spain 2007

Juan, Jim, Niki, Gilles, Alain, Ayrton, Michael….all names that will forever have a lingering impact on the Formula One   world and it would appear that after only four races into his F1career Lewis may also be added to that list. Another flawless drive from British hope saw him pick up yet another second place and more importantly the lead in the Formula One World Championship. In a season that everyone thought would be dominated by an intense battle between the ‘super-drivers’ Fernando and Kimi judging by the last few races it is in fact their team-mates who are the ones really fighting. Two wins on the trot for Massa claws him back into the battle as this championship becomes even more intense. The day in Barcelona did not just belong to Lewis and Felipe though. There were two other superb drives in the midfield from David Coulthard and perennial under-dog Takuma Sato. Just like Bahrain DC drove his Red Bull dominantly into the points and this time the car held together (just) to pick The ‘Bull’s’ first points of the season. Sato drove brilliantly picking up on other driver’s errors to stay in it hold on to eighth to take a point. It is the little Aguri team’s first points in F1 and when you consider bigger sister, Honda are yet to get off the mark it highlight’s the small Japanese outfit’s great achievement.

Even though there wasn’t a great amount of over-taking during the first stint there was certainly enough happenings and goings on to keep everyone awake. Until lap 10 it seemed as though we were going to have another four way battle for the major points and podium positions. However Raikkonen’s Ferrari started crawling to the pits, never to return to the track. It emphasises just how reliable the top cars have been this season when you think this is the first McLaren or Ferrari to retire since last year. On the previous lap Trulli’s nightmare race was brought to an abrupt end with fuel problems and on the lap before that Mark Webber’s Red Bull gave up the ghost with transmission problems. A dismal weekend for the Toro Rossos was brought to a close with a puncture for Speed and hydraulic failure took out Liuzzi. Liuzzi didn’t go quietly though, as he was coming in the pits Coulthard was directly behind and had to take swift avoiding action or else a pit-lane blockage may have occurred and a red flag may have been brought out for the first time since 2003. Unless fortunes change pretty sharpish for the Red Bull B-team then questions will be asked because after all, they are using practically the same car as their big sister but not showing the same promise.
After the pit-stops the woes of Honda delved deeper and deeper. As Button exited the pits Barrichello was accelerating down the straight alongside him…..the result was inevitable. The two drivers fought for the same piece of the tarmac into turn one but Jenson ran over the kerb on the inside and clattered into Rubens. Barrichello seemed to get away relatively unscathed but Button’s front wing was broken and he limped back to the pits. Honda will need to turn things around pretty soon or else Super Aguri are going to seriously embarrass them by the end of the season and they could end up losing Button as well. However, if Button does eventually does jump ship he may ended up jobless with no other team really wanting him. Though I could see him replacing Ralf Schumacher at Toyota before the season’s end otherwise Jenson could be out on his ear.
This was very little change up at the front throughout the race. Other than the brief change around in the pit-stops the front-running order remained Massa, Hamilton and Alonso. They were followed for the first stint by both the BMW’s and probably would have been for the rest of the race if it wasn’t for a bizarre incident during Hiedfeld’s stop. The car was released by the lollipop man too early and the wheel nut had yet to be properly attached to car. The nut would have ended rolling down the pit-lane if it was for the footie skills of a quick thinking Toyota mechanic. This resulted in an extremely tentative out/in lap from the German to get the car back to pits and get the nut properly attached. Even though the Germans tyre woes got sorted out he was added to the long list of retirements on lap 46 with gearbox issues. What a difference a month can make for the German, In April he was overtaking reigning champions, but by May his mechanics can’t even get his wheels on.

The only drama near the end of the race was for David Coulthard in the sole remaining Red Bull. In the closing five laps the brand new seamless shift gearbox lost third gear and David had to desperately hold on as Nico Roseberg and Heikki Kovaleinen were closing fast. The pair were taking more than a second out of the Scot each lap. However, at the front Felipe Massa collected his second win in a row propelling him right into the mix for the championship. It was the young Brit behind who really stole the day as his fourth podium out of four races put him on the top of the championship ahead of three men who between them have scored 911 points, 32 fastest laps, 24 pole-positions, 20 victories and of course, two World Championships. Team-mate, Fernando Alonso completed the podium and Robert Kubica solidly got the car home in fourth position. DC held onto his fifth place scoring RBR’s first points and his first finish of the season! He was closely hounded down by Rosberg and Kovaleinen. Completing the top eight with an uncharacteristically quiet drive was Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri. After consistently driving calmly and professionally throughout the race Sato made the move on Giancarlo Fisichella to take the remaining points and, perhaps more importantly Aguri’s first point of the year as opposed to the much bigger Honda team’s big fat nought. The A-team are left languishing with the likes of the Toro Rossos and the Spykers whilst the Aguris are battling out with the defending champions, keep your eye on F1’s fairytale team….
It’s time to turn our attention to possibly one of the most important races of the year, Monaco. Personally this is Lewis Hamilton’s make it or break it Grand Prix. If he can keep a level-head round the streets of the principality then he most certainly could be champion as early as this year. Many rookies such as Chrsitian Klien, Allan McNish and Jaun Pablo Montoya have all succumb to the fatal attraction of the Monaco barriers in recent years at their first attempt. However Lewis has yet to be beaten round the streets in the junior formulae so another top-draw performance from the twenty-two year old would most certainly silence any critics left out there (that is of course if there is any). It won’t be all about Hamilton though with veteran drivers Webber, Trulli and of course DC all traditionally running well in the streets with the latter two having three wins between them. Roll on Monaco………..