<B>No more bull, says DC, as teams lock horns.</B>

Red Bull Racing ace David Coulthard has blasted Franz Tost - co-owner of Scuderia Toro Rosso, RBR's sister outfit - for suggesting that his seat may be at risk, stressing the Austrian should get his own house in order before making comments regarding other teams.

David Coulthard (GBR) Reb Bull RB3, Belgian F1, Spa, 14-16th, September 2007
David Coulthard (GBR) Reb Bull RB3, Belgian F1, Spa, 14-16th, September…
© Peter Fox

Red Bull Racing ace David Coulthard has blasted Franz Tost - co-owner of Scuderia Toro Rosso, RBR's sister outfit - for suggesting that his seat may be at risk, stressing the Austrian should get his own house in order before making comments regarding other teams.

In his regular ITV column, the experienced Scot insisted he was '100 per cent certain' of remaining at the Milton Keynes-based squad next season, explaining he had a cast-iron contract and no concerns about being displaced from the team. Red Bull is one of the teams McLaren refugee Fernando Alonso has been most prominently linked with in recent weeks, and in fanning the flames Tost did little to dispel those rumours.

"One thing that has surprised me from a Red Bull point-of-view since all the speculation began is that Scuderia Toro Rosso's team principal Franz Tost told the press that there were talks going on between Red Bull and Alonso," Coulthard said. "I cannot understand why he would feel it's appropriate to make a comment about another team, owned by the same parent company, without any authority to do so and no understanding of the contractual situation.

"STR had the same car as us this year but nowhere near the same performance, so shouldn't he be concentrating on his own business rather than ours?

"I cannot see Fernando Alonso joining Red Bull in 2008, and I am 100 per cent certain I will be racing for them next year. I was never worried about that, even when the rumours first surfaced about Alonso.

"The contract I signed with Red Bull is binding. We didn't just sign a piece of paper giving Red Bull the right to put me in any car they happen to sponsor; it's very specific and says I have to drive the car in any F1 event it is entered for. I know this is not always the case with younger drivers.

"That doesn't mean that, just as in a marriage, one party may not want to continue one day. If that happens you find a way to bring it to a conclusion, but knowing my own feelings and knowing Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz the way I do, this is simply not a scenario. He is a man of his word."

Reflecting on Alonso's predicament, meanwhile, Coulthard said he could not see how a relationship between the Spaniard and RBR would work out, particularly given the disparity in performance terms between Red Bull and McLaren. Interestingly, he also came out in support of the double world champion, who came significantly under fire over the second half of the season for his volatile outbursts and increasingly erratic behaviour.

"You have to ask yourself why would he leave a winning grand prix team like McLaren to join a team which is still working its way up the grid," the 36-year-old added, "our strong performances towards the end of the year notwithstanding. He doesn't have to do that - he could take a year out and he would still be young enough to come back strong.

"I don't get the impression, based on Alonso's behaviour at McLaren, that he is happy to get variable results whilst knuckling down and developing the car into a winner. The most logical place for Alonso to go is Renault, and if not there then the less likely option of Toyota - who can afford him. Red Bull is the least likely team to sign him, and they wouldn't pay the money he wants anyway.

"I admired Alonso for not changing his approach in 2007, despite the criticism he received for his attitude towards McLaren. People who have worked with Fernando tell me he was just being himself when he threw those tantrums in the second half of the season.

"Because he chose to speak out against Britain's new potential champion, though, he was lambasted in the UK press. It was all: 'How dare he? How spoiled must he be to question our young new talent Lewis Hamilton?' The events of this year didn't have the most sporting flavour to them, but you have to give people credit for being consistent in their behaviour."

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