DECEMBER 7, 2000

Coulthard backs Silverstone move

DAVID COULTHARD has backed the decision to hold the British Grand Prix at Silverstone for the immediate future and promised to make it a hat-trick of victories in his home event next year.

Octagon, the company who hold the leasing rights to the British event, made a u-turn this week and opted for a 15-year association with the Northamptonshire circuit rather than move it to Brands Hatch as was originally planned.

McLaren driver David Coulthard, who has won at Silverstone in the last two years, threw his weight behind the decision and said he believes money will be made available to turn it into a world-class circuit.

"Silverstone has invested a lot in it," Coulthard said, after testing at Jerez on Wednesday. "There are a lot of changes going on, so I think it will get better.

"It has Becketts and that is one of the best places to drive in the world. They have the potential and the money to make it better, so I think it's good that we are staying. I have also won there twice, something I intend to make a hat-trick."

Coulthard raced at Brands Hatch during his days in the British Formula Three Championship and said the pace of a Formula One car on a Kent circuit would have scared him.

"I thought Brands Hatch was a great circuit when I last raced there in Formula Three," he added. "But I think it would scare me now in an Formula One car."