David Coulthard has said that the spectacular accidents he suffered in both Australia and Malaysia have left no mental scars.
Scot hails safety of modern F1 cars - but warns that luck still plays a part
David Coulthard has said that the spectacular accidents he suffered in both Australia and Malaysia have left no mental scars.
The Scot's Red Bull lurched drunkenly into retirement from the Australian Grand Prix after a collision with the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, with the front suspension on his RB4 then disintegrating last Friday when he hit a kerb during practice at Sepang.
Coulthard and team-mate Mark Webber were only given the all-clear to race in Malaysia after the team convinced race stewards that the suspension on their cars was safe.
However, Coulthard has played down any personal concerns over the incidents, telling
autosport.com: "I've got no confidence problems. I think it's a racing driver thing: we're confident/competitive/stupid enough to think it will never happen to us.
"The Toyota (of Timo Glock) fell to pieces fairly spectacularly after it had its incident in Melbourne, so carbon does tend to disintegrate.
"Look at (Robert) Kubica's accident in Canada. It was remarkable he emerged without any serious injury but I remind you: his feet were hanging out the front of his car and had he had a secondary impact with the concrete wall he would probably have broken his ankles.
"I remember Johnny Herbert's accident back at Brands Hatch in 1988 - there's a large element of luck in any accident and there's no question the cars are considerably stronger than they were several years ago."
Describing his most recent off in Malaysia, Coulthard added: "The suspension saw twice the normal loads it would see at the fastest corner.
"Although it looked fairly spectacular and many were wondering why it fell to pieces, you never see those loads unless you hit something.
"Keep things within their design parameters and they'll operate normally. Take them outside and you tend to get catastrophic failures."
