Coulthard apologises to "naked" Jaques

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DC apologises to 'naked' Jacques
Monday April 04 2005


David Coulthard has apologised to Jacques Villeneuve for shunting him out of the Bahrain GP – but admitted he may have had an ulterior motive for his hasty apology. There are also rumours that DC apologised to a naked Jacques while the French/Canadian was in the shower…
The pair - good friends off the track at least - were squabbling for the final points-scoring position at the Bahrain GP when, in an incident utterly missed by the television cameras, Coulthard hit Villeneuve’s Sauber and sent the '97 World Champ spiralling off the track.

"I am happy about the race though, the car was strong and I felt more confident with it than in previous races," reported Jacques. "Unfortunately, three laps from the chequered flag, David [Coulthard] hit the rear of my car damaging the suspension. We were both fighting for 8th place and a valuable point but he made a mistake and it got me out of the race.

"It's really a shame but he came to apologize and everything is OK now. That's racing !" JV added philosophically.

DC described the accident as a 'racing incident' but acknowledged that he had felt compelled to apologise to Villeneuve. However, as he required a lift home from Jacques, he probably had no choice.

"We were both trying to get by Barrichello. I went for it but touched Jacques and spun him round. It was a racing incident. We are mates and I went to see him afterwards as I am getting a lift on his plane and wanted to make sure I was still welcome."

There was no word from Coulthard on the rumours that he issued the apology to Villeneuve while the French/Canadian was taking his post-race shower.

On a more serious note, some questions have to be asked of the ITV coverage because of this incident.

Having completely missed Takuma Sato's overtaking move on Jenson Button earlier in the race, they also managed to miss DC and Villeneuve tangling, despite the pair being within a second of Rubens Barrichello.

If that is excusable, what of Ted Kravitz’s immediate claim after shots of an off-ttrack Villeneuve were belatedly broadcast that, "I'm just down here at Sauber...they've just had to retire him from the race with shot front brakes.”

"So that's why he was off the road then," added analyst Martin Brundle, who also acts as manager to a certain Red Bull driver...