Coulthard hits out at Spa changes

David Coulthard has hit out at changes made to the Spa-Francorchamps track, the venue for the Belgian Grand Prix next weekend.

The circuit’s famous Bus Stop chicane has been altered, and drivers competing there in the recent sports car 24-hour race claimed the change made overtaking even harder.

Overtaking is particularly difficult in Formula One – and Coulthard, a leading figure in the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, feels changes should not be made without consultation with the men who know tracks best.

He plans to take up the issue with other circuits to ensure the GPDA – a body set up to promote increased safety standards – are consulted when track changes are made.

He said: “It is a little disappointing, because we weren’t as a group informed of those changes. The comments of other drivers that have been there are that it is not favourable.

“Quite how we find ourselves in a situation where a track is changed without input from a current driver is very strange.

“We will have to be more proactive in asking the tracks ‘Are you making changes?’ rather than sitting back and waiting for them to talk to us.”