Errr..... Wasn't there a driver a couple of years ago called David Couthard??

[Tristan]

OK OK, the McLaren car isn't their greatest. I'm not talking about that.

But so far this season, if you had to choose who was top dog, best driver at McL I'd have to plump for Kimi.

It seems that year isn't "mine" after all.

[TeddyG]

I dunno I've never really been impressed with DC at all...except that one move he made on Schumi in the wet awhile ago....but did you know he is tied with Villeneuve for wins at 13???? Seems pretty pathetic since DC has been in a race winning car for the last 5 years or so.

[Kex]

IMO Coulthard's never been that brilliant. Three or four years he's had the best car, and he's done bugger all then. So his current performances don't surprise me.

[Tristan]

Kex, I quitley agree. But shhhhhhh!!!

[RT]

I've never thought that DC had what it takes to be WC. However, to give him his due, the question I qould ask is:

Wasn't there a great Mercedes engine two years ago?

[EERO]

To DC's defense, until the launch control problems last year at Monaco, he was the only man poised to take a shot at That German Fellow.

I may be totally wrong, but i'm going to guess that with the lack of grunt that Illmor is getting from their lump, that DC opted for a wet-wheather set-up hoping that if it did rain, his lack of power would not be such a disadvantage. He has had appalling luck this year. Kimi is certainly fast but I really don't think that you can say that the young Finn has the upper hand.


Yet.

[Tristan]

That's what people are saying about Monty: he went for a wet-dry setup. I guess it's feasible. We shall have to see.

[Damon]

The Mclarens are simply way of the pace. Even with JPM's cronic understeer problems (see the other thread on Monty's career) he was able to stay comforably ahead of Kimi. I think Mercedes have spent to long resting on their laurels and have fallen behind the rest.

[Minardi fan]

Tristan: Either that or they can't hack Ralf or Kimi having the upper-hand over their supposedly superior team mates...

[f1manoz]

The Ilmor is not helping DC in his quest for race victories, but Kimi is also learning rapidly what it takes to be a McLaren driver, and DC is quickly going to become a subordinate to another Finnish driver if he's not too careful.

[Mania]

DC's just heading to the end of a Mclaren career. Hakkinen is probably sitting at home with a huge smile on his face - since he's wisely taken a sabbatical while Mclaren fall behind the pack in F1.

[Miss Hardt]

Mania,that is sad,but true.

[Damon]

Sabbatical Mania? He won't be back, why would he want to return to a team only 4th in the championship when he has 2 WDC under his belt?

[Super Tourer]

I've never rated DC as a world championship driver. Yes he is one of the top drivers in F1, but he's only Top in around 50-60% of the races, which is nowhere near enough in modern F1.

If you look back at DC's career, I think you have to go back to Formula Ford for his last championship win. When he raced in F3 for PSR, the pattern was fairly familiar one - a few race win's & poles, but didn't put in a sustained performance to win the title - finishing runner up to, I believe, Barichello.

This pattern has followed him into F1 - which tell's me he's just not good enough to win the WDC - whatever car you put him in.

[Mr V]

when dc was being interviewed in the pit lane he got as far as saying he had massive understeer (just like jpm) and then all the sound went of and unfortunatly i can't lip read, so it's possible he gambled on set up also.

[Kenny W.]

Correct me if I'm wrong but..
This is still the first race Kimi has qualified faster, and the first race (excluding breakdowns) that he has been ahead.
Before the season started everyone said that Kimi would be better in some races. He has been impressive, but better??

[Raven]

Ken,
Kimi was also faster than DC in Malaysia and was running ahead of him in the race before they both retired.

[Kenny W.]

Didn't DC have a mechanical fault first?

[Raven]

I think he was the first of the two macs to retire in Malaysia, but Kimi had him under control.

Kimi has also had more bad luck this year with 3 mechanical breakdowns to DCs 2.

[Super Tourer]

If experience and knowledge of the team/car are anything to go by, DC should be street's ahead, whilst Kimi finds his feet.

The fact that he isn't and that Kimi has slotted into the team where Hakkinen left off doesn't look good on DC.

When MH was his team mate he always had the fact that MH was Ron's favourite and had Newey on his car to convince himself he got a raw deal.

Now its a clean sheet and he's still behind his new team mate, some questions may be asked about his overall ability as a lead driver/title challenger for McLaren.

Forget about retirements, on paper DC has all the advantages over Kimi and should be showing him the way by some margin - but can't. Enough said........

[Nicholas]

3:1 to Kimi... it's not looking good.

On the other hand, things would be even worse for DC if the Mclaren was capable of winning races this year. People don't really notice if you're scraping for 5th and 6th, but if it was Kimi on the top step and DC always getting 2nd (as usual ) he'd be a dead cert to make some room for Mika.

At the moment most people just blame the car and don't look at the results.