Hill has encouraging words for Coulthard, and F1 in General

[BootsOntheSide]

From The Sun

First blood to Coul
By STAN PIECHA

DAMON HILL has given David Coulthard's world championship hopes a huge boost by telling the McLaren ace: Statistics are on your side.


Hill, the last Brit to wear the crown, revealed: "In recent years the driver who has won the first race of the season has usually gone on to clinch the title."

In fact, the record books show that since 1990 only two drivers - Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen - have savoured global glory without taking the chequered flag in the season's curtain-raiser.

Coulthard, 31, performed the first part of his task by grabbing a surprise victory in the action-packed showdown in Melbourne last week and now has another 15 races to build on his early success.

Hill believes Coulthard's latest win will give the Scot a massive lift in confidence as he battles to put the brakes on Michael Schumacher making it a record-busting six world titles.

The 1996 world-beater said: "David winning the opening race is the perfect result not just because he has kicked the season off with maximum points but the way he achieved the victory.

"He started 11th on the grid, went to the pits after just two laps to change tyres, rejoined the race in last place and then went on to win. That's a hell of a psychological lift to begin your campaign with.

"It may be early days and we all know that Michael and his Ferrari team are never going to be easy to topple.

"But I believe David has now matured into a true world championship contender.

"His drive and discipline in Melbourne were that of a champion in the making.

"He kept his head while all the guys who could have won made mistakes.

"Towards the end of last season I could see a change in David. He looked a better racer and he has carried it forward this year. He doesn't drop the ball like he used to and he's letting his experience and maturity work for him."

While Schumacher coasted to the title last season with six races to spare, Hill envisages no cushy ride for Coulthard.

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Now, I don't think much of Stan Piecha, and his reasoning here is quite incomplete. The guys who won the first race while already title favourite do tend to win the crown, but in 1997 DC took a surprise first-race win and never came close to following up on it with a title challenge. Typicall for the Sun, ths seems more like an attempt to fire up patriotic fervour and ignorance, than any kind of reasoned argument written by someone who nderstands the facts.