F1 drivers "disillusioned" with slow cars

Nico Rosberg's pole position time for the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend was nearly five seconds slower than the current lap record for the current layout of the Spanish track, set in 2010 by Mark Webber.

The fastest lap in the race was nearly seven seconds slower than Kimi Raikkonen's record, set in the 2008 Spanish GP.

Coulthard, now a commentator for the BBC, believes Formula 1 machinery should be much faster given the currently technology.

"In my view, the current era of F1 should always be pretty much the fastest period of the sport in history," Coulthard wrote in his column for the BBC website.

"Technology advances. We're used to mobile phones getting lighter, doing more things, having better battery life, more capacity. The 100m world record gets ever lower.

"Man goes further and longer into space. Yet in F1 the cars are several seconds slower than they were 10 years ago.

"They might not say so publicly, but I know that the current drivers are all a bit disillusioned with the current F1 because the cars are so slow compared to previous years, and the drivers are so far within their ability levels during the races."

The Scot, speaking ahead of a Strategy Group meeting which is likely to discuss the future of the sport, also believes no driver is happy with the current tyres used in Formula 1.

"You will very rarely hear them saying it publicly but, without exception, no one in F1 likes the construction and compound range of the current tyres, and people are very negative about Pirelli as a result; hardly good PR," he said.

"I have no doubt that, if challenged to do so, Pirelli could build much racier tyres."