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David Coulthard has questioned whether he and team-mate Mika Hakkinen are receiving equal treatment from McLaren.
Team boss Ron Dennis has always insisted his two drivers receive identical equipment. He was furious with Ferrari’s Ross Brawn when he suggested Hakkinen was McLaren’s top man.
But Coulthard’s comments will set sceptics talking about whether McLaren are as fully committed to the policy of equality as they claim. The Scot was blown away by Hakkinen in the Hungarian Grand Prix, despite having the measure of the Finn is qualifying.
A suspicious Coulthard told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica: “I fought the balancing of the car for the whole weekend, and I didn’t manage to find an optimal one.
“Mika had the same problems as mine. And then suddenly, he started flying. Strange…”
Not surprisingly, Hakkinen was keener to tow the team line. He firmly dismissed suggestions he enjoys preferential treatment.
"More attention to me?” said the Finn. “I did not sleep the night (after qualifying), I was so worried. There is no favouritism.”
And
David Coulthard and Marc Gene are involved in a war of words after the McLaren driver accused the Spaniard of costing him second place in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Minardi driver, who eventually trailed in 15th three laps adrift, denied he had had any effect on the outcome of the race.
Coulthard finished third, half a second behind Ferrari rival Michael Schumacher as Mika Hakkinen romped to victory in Budapest. But the Scot reckons it would have been a different story if he had not been delayed by the Minardi duo of Gene and Gaston Mazzacane.
"It felt like there were four Minardis out there, not two," he said.
"Everyone saw how close it was when I came out of the pits after the second stop. There was probably just a cars length between Michael and but I had lost a lot more than that behind the Minardis. Without them I could have got out in front of him.
"Michael got them into turn five and for some reason they wouldn't let me past until much later in the lap. They didn't cost me the race because Mika won it fair and square but they certainly cost me second place today.”
Coulthard joked he had been the victim of a “conspiracy” between Ferrari and Minardi, Formula 1’s only two Italian teams.
He added: “I don't mean to be disrespectful to Minardi but they are in Formula One in name only not on performance.”
Coulthard said Gene nearly hit him when he tried to get past on one occasion, but the Minardi driver saw things differently.
He hit back: "I disagree that I have done anything wrong. I don’t know about my team-mate but I did not do anything different to Coulthard than I did to Schumacher. I always move over before the end of one lap and I think that is good enough.”
Asked about the incident in which Coulthard claimed they nearly collided, Gene added: "That was not my fault either. He tried to overtake at a place where drivers never expect anyone to try and overtake. I was going to let him past at the next chicane."
Gene’s argument was not helped by the fact he received a 10-second penalty during the race for holding up Eddie Irvine.
I think you'll find DC that Mika is just better than you. Full stop. There's nothing "strange" about it. And maybe if you hadn't had the best car for your whole career you'd be more sympathetic towards Minardi.
Can't you just stop blaming other people?
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