Coulthard eyes Button for titleposted in F127 | 02 | 2014
Scots F1 ace, David Coulthard, was in London for a flying trip to launch his new limited edition TW Steel watch to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his debut in F1: he spoke, exclusively, to Scotcars' Jim McGill
"RED BULL? YEH, they've got problems this year. It's not looking good, and there's no quick fixes." That's the frank assessment, by David Coulthard, of the pre-season performance of the previously all-conquering Formula One team.
As the teams gather in Bahrain today for the final four-day pre-season test, ahead of the opening grand prix of the season in Australia on March 16, the 42-year-old Scot has concerns for Red Bull.
"It appears the team has issues with the hybrid part of the car storing the energy and releasing it," Coulthard — who raced for the Milton Keynes-based team between 2005 and '08, and who will again front BBC's F1 coverage — explained.
"They might just be one manufacturer part away from solving it, or it may be a process of fixing that part, and the next part goes wrong.
"When you enter the competitive arena, you accept that there are no guarantees, and you have to take the good with the bad.
"But what happens with these great teams is that through adversity they are able to rally the troops and find a way out.
"The time you really find out about the team is not through the three or four years of winning, it's in the difficult times. And at the moment, it's the difficult times Red Bull is going through."
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While the Mercedes-powered teams — including Mercedes GP, McLaren and Force India — have been able to rack up the laps and miles since the first official test at Jerez earlier this month, Red Bull and its Renault powerplant have struggled.
While Red Bull completed only 21 laps over all four days in Spain, McLaren's Kevin Magnussen racked up 110 on the final day alone.
It's clear, from the evidence of Jerez and the first test at Bahrain, the Red Bull is struggling to dissipate the heat being generated by the electric part of the new engine.
But Coulthard — in London to launch a new limited edition TW Steel watch to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his debut in F1 — is in no doubt that the significant raft of technical rule changes introduced for the 2014 season was the correct way to go.
Those changes include 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engines, mated to two motor generator units — essentially electric motors — capable of pumping out 160bhp: that's in addition to the output of the V6.
"Is there pressure to find other forms of energy? Absolutely," Coulthard continued. "We're living in those times. Do all the manufacturers embrace hybrid technology? Yes they do.
"Is Formula One a proving ground and a development centre for technologies we use in our everyday lives? Unquestionably, yes.
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"At certain points there has to be a leap of faith in the development of new technology. We're living that right now in terms of F1.
"It will work. It will be a bumpy road. There will be failures. There will be embarrassment. But at the end of it, there will be a winner."
But who will that winner be? Certainly at the moment, Coulthard — who won 13 grands prix, and finished on the podium 62 times during his time with Williams and McLaren — doesn't see it being four-times world champ Sebastian Vettel.
"If you had to lock-in your prediction today, it's going to be a Mercedes-powered car that will win the first grand prix," he stated.
"As for the championship, from a British point of view, Lewis (Hamilton) has go to be in the mix.
"That said, I'm curiously hopeful that Jenson (Button) might be able to do it in the McLaren, and I'm excited to see how he goes alongside Kevin (Magnussen), who's a very bright young talent.
"But the main thing is we must ensure F1 doesn't lose its sparkle, and it remains the performance pinnacle of motorsport.
"There's a reason the James Bond franchise is still so successful today, because it's kind of aspirational: it's real, but it's not real.
"F1's the same, it should be a little bit James Bond: certainly more James Bond than Brooke Bond."
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Jim McGill