New deal makes Coulthard more determined

David Coulthard insists he is as determined as ever after extending his Formula One career into a 15th year.

The Scot has been confirmed at Red Bull for 2008, which will be his fourth season with the former Jaguar team.

“I’m happy to continue with work with Red Bull,” said Coulthard, who is the oldest driver on the grid at 36.

“My enjoyment of racing remains absolute and my commitment to the team is 100% as well, so I’m looking forward to it.

“It was a new challenge when I started there to try to see if I could play my part in helping guide the team from the driving seat.

“Christian [Horner, team boss] has been busy with the recruitment side and the journey continues We have had a bit of a troubled year this year, but the pace has certainly improved.

“Logically we’ll be expecting to build on that through the course of the year and into next season.”

Coulthard, who has 13 grands prix wins to his name, will again line up alongside Australian Mark Webber as the team attempt to move out of the midfield and up towards the front of the grid.

This season has been a disappointment for the team after crack designer Adrian Newey’s new car presented on-going teething troubles.

But Horner is happy to continue with one of the sport’s most experienced driver line-ups into a second year.

“The logic behind re-signing David was very simple: we’re very happy with the job that both our drivers are doing,” he said.

“We’re in an evolution phase of Red Bull Racing and David’s done a very good job in the three years that he’s been with us.

“It was therefore entirely logical to extend that relationship for a further year. The team is still young, there have been a lot of changes over the last 24 months.

“But it’s coming together and we’ve seen glimpses of pace. This year we’ve had a poor reliability record, but that’s something everybody is firmly focused on and will improve in the second half of the year.

“In David and Mark, we have a very strong, professional committed line-up. I don’t think there’s a harder working line-up in F1 than the two drivers we have.

“They’re very focused, they’re big team players and they contribute a great deal to our programme.”