Zoom Button clearly a fan of the retiring Coulthard!

The Thursday press conference ahead of the British Grand Prix saw three British drivers on attendance. Jenson Button is joined by David Coulthard who announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the season as well as fan favourite Lewis Hamilton who is looking to get his challenge back on track after two difficult races.

Q: David, give us the background to your decision to retire?
David COULTHARD: There is not one morning you wake up if you are looking for a date, but I have had a growing feeling that this year is the right time to make it my last year in F1. I am enjoying very much the challenge and the racing even though I had a few incidents at the beginning of the year. The thought process was there before then. I am still competitive with the machinery I have got. After 15 years I am clearly not going to battle for a World Championship and am unlikely to win another grand prix unless something remarkable happens this year. I feel fulfilled in the role I have played at Red Bull. I took that job a few years and I have helped the team grow and I have seen the team move forward and be taken seriously I believe in the paddock, not that they weren’t taken seriously before. But people didn’t know what to expect from Red Bull. I just think it is a good time. I will be 38 next year and nothing lasts forever. I have enjoyed my racing and now is the right time.

Q: Has it been a difficult decision to make?
DC: Not really, no. I have always had a fairly realistic view on the career of a sportsman, how long it may last and the opportunities that are there for you. I feel fulfilled in the opportunities I have had. I won’t be looking back thinking if only, if only I had had a World Championship winning car. I did have a world championship winning car, I just didn’t win it. But I won a number of Grand Prix and had a lot of fun along the way. As I just explained the journey I started with Red Bull will continue but not as a grand prix driver and that is something which I am entirely comfortable with and I am looking forward to the remaining races.

Q: Do you think it will be difficult to keep up the motivation for the remaining races?
DC: No. If I thought that I would be saying today that I would be stepping to one side. That is the other good thing about making the decision in that I have the motivation. I am enjoying the racing. I would hate to find myself in a situation where I wake up and think I do not want to go racing today. I am contracted to the season. I have seen it happen to other people I have been close to the sport who have been in that situation. It may be something that never happens, but I just don’t want to find myself in that situation. After 15 seasons I think that’s enough. The sport is in good hands with the other younger British drivers, so October in Brazil that will be it.