Friday April 21st, 2000

by Alan Baldwin

Wet conditions brought out the canny side of David Coulthard on Friday as well as concern about the dangers of Formula One cars skidding at speed in the rain.

Briton Coulthard, last year's British Grand Prix winner in July sunshine, removed his shoes and trudged across the muddy grass in his socks after his McLaren broke down at the end of Hanger straight during a rainsoaked second free practice session at Silverstone.

"I took my shoes off because I buy the boots and the team pays for the socks so I'd rather ruin the socks," he joked afterwards.

Team boss Ron Dennis savoured the comment, adding only -- in a jibe at the thrifty reputation of Coulthard's compatriots -- that "the one thing you forgot to add was that you are a Scot."

The bad weather also raised far more serious issues, with questions being asked about the safety of driving in such conditions and about the ability of marshalls to react promptly in an emergency.

A four-wheel drive rescue vehicle was bogged down in the mud as it tried to move Coulthard's car away and had to be pulled out itself.

Treacherous Track

Cars roared past on a treacherous track before the session was stopped for 12 minutes to allow both vehicles to be moved safely.

"It's a bit ridiculous, a recovery vehicle getting stuck in the grass but I'm not going to be worrying about that going into the race," said Coulthard at a news conference after the session.

Sunday's race has been brought forward in the calendar from its traditional July date and organisers are facing big problems due to bad weather leaving surrounding facilities waterlogged.

Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, the two times world champion who crashed and broke his leg here last year, said the conditions made it "almost impossible to drive and also dangerous".

"I would suggest to the FIA that when the weather is like this the safety car should be used in practice as well as the race," he said.

"I had a problem with aquaplaning and it was impossible to see what was going on in front or to judge the distance to other cars ahead.

"The big problem here is that the rain does not drain away quickly enough. Today's session was almost useless in terms of setting up the car."

Aquaplaning a Concern for Coulthard

Coulthard defended Silverstone's safety record but said aquaplaning, when a car hits water on the road surface and loses grip suddenly, was a real concern for Formula One drivers in the wet.

"I think aquaplaning is a really serious issue of which nothing will really be done about it until there is a serious accident," he warned.

"That's usually the way these things work.

"It's not comfortable for any of us, we all do it because we all want to win races but really to be going along the straight not knowing whether the car is going to stay in a straight line or not is very difficult."

Brazilian Ricardo Zonta, who had a huge crash in testing at Silverstone last week, spun off the track on Friday in his BAR and blamed aquaplaning for the incident.

"The conditions, particularly this afternoon, were very difficult," he said. "They seemed to change every run that we made."

Coulthard agreed that altering the wooden plank that every grand prix car has underneath it to control ride height and help limit speeds could offer a way of reducing the problem.

"I think that's been the issue since the Japanese Grand Prix of 1994 ... I remember watching Johnny (Herbert) spinning at the start/finish straight there and I'm sure the plank acts like a rudder," he said.

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn confirmed that the plank and alterations to the ride height of cars had been "the subject of some discussion" at technical meetings.

"One of the things we are looking at is to perhaps put some grooves in the plank because we feel it could be the plank which is aggravating the situation," he said.

"We are due to test that in the next month or two to see if we can improve the aquaplaning situation with a view to making a change in the regulations perhaps next year."