Coulthard salutes Ferrari reliability

David Coulthard concedes he has no hope of beating Michael Schumacher in this weekend’s British Grand Prix unless Ferrari suffer a rare mechanical failure.

Ferrari’s reliability record in Formula One is legendary and Schumacher’s dominance in recent years has been underpinned by his unnerving ability to finish races.

His rivals have been let down by their inability to finish while Schumacher’s last mechanical failure was in Germany 2001. Ferrari’s only blemish this season has come courtesy of Schumacher’s accident at Monaco.

Only Schumacher and Barrichello of the grid’s 20 regular drivers have a perfect reliability record and Coulthard admits this makes his task all the more daunting.

He said: “The only thing that will trip them up is reliability. It makes them very difficult to beat when they have the speed and the reliability. They redefined Formula One in terms of reliability several seasons ago.

“Quite clearly they are doing a better job. I’ve been in a dominant car before and it’s very difficult to put your finger on what makes them quicker.

“I don’t think there is any doubt they are running a car within the regulations – that shows what you can achieve and that is what we have to do.

“I am absolutely against handicapping success. If you’ve done a good job then you are at the top of a difficult business.”

Coulthard is optimistic for his home race after a solid first day’s practice but admits a podium place – rather than a win – will be as good as it gets.

Coulthard was sixth and fourth respectively in the two sessions while Raikkonen was the man to beat in second practice, setting the fastest time to give the team reason to be hopeful for today’s qualifying.

While Ferrari have dominated at the front, no team holds a clear advantage behind and Coulthard fancies his chances.

However, his bosses at McLaren and Mercedes are trying to calm the optimism.

McLaren chief Ron Dennis said: “Yesterday’s times were encouraging but it’s the rest of the week that counts. We are really looking forward to the rest of the weekend which hopefully can continue in the same way.”

Norbert Haug, Mercedes’ Formula One engine boss, added his own note of caution, saying: “We shouldn’t read too much into the times from our first practice sessions as we want to see how competitive we will be in comparison to the opposition in qualifying and the race.”