David Coulthard will not allow the appearance of the new Ferrari next month to dent his World Championship challenge, even though his new McLaren will now not race until June.
The Scot, who lies 13 points behind surprise championship leader Kimi Raikkonen, admits the Ferrari 2003-GA concerns his McLaren team but will not allow himself to be overly worried. He said: "Of course we are concerned. If they bring out a new car you have got to believe it is significantly quicker and that is not good news." But Coulthard was quick to point out that there is definite cause for optimism: "it is significant it was not raced in Imola. You hear rumours of it being significantly lighter than previous cars...but quite fragile."
While Coulthard admits that Ferrari's old car is still quick, on race day the interim McLaren MP4-17D has proven itself to be an effective weapon: "...as always in race trim we seem to be biggest winners in terms of performance and they drop back a bit and so do Williams. We have every reason to be optimistic."
Coulthard was many people's tip for the title this season (MOTORSPORTFORUM included) but some are suggesting the Scot could again be beaten by another Flying Finn - namely Raikkonen. Coulthard is typically straightforward in his response pointing to recent rule changes as potentially creating a distorted picture four races into the 2003 season: "He [Raikkonen] has got a pretty healthy advantage to carry as we head to the middle part of the year. I said at the beginning of the year we have a new world championship and a new format to it, so we have to re-write the books in many respects."
Coulthard resumes his quest to catch Raikkonen and keep Ferrari at bay in Barcelona on May 4th.
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