Coulthard bemoans testers

Drivers such as Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastian Vettel have gone on to Formula One race drives after starting out as inexperienced testers

But British veteran Coulthard, a 13-time Grand Prix winner, believes teams would benefit more from employing experienced testers.

"I never understand these teams that put young guys in their car and get them onto contracts as test drivers," said Coulthard during the build-up to the Race of Champions at Wembley. "

"If they have no experience, then how can they contribute anything to a car's development or set-up? They have to learn the car first and that takes time.

"I wouldn't want it to happen with me. I like testing my own car and getting my own set-up."

Coulthard instead believes that McLaren's tactic of putting Lewis Hamilton - who had no F1 experience this time last year - straight into a race seat, would be more beneificial for teams.

Coulthard's Red Bull squad is currently without a full-time test driver, meaning both he and Australian team-mate Mark Webber - a man with six years' race experience in F1 - do most of the testing work themselves.

Robert Doornbos, who has been testing and racing in F1 since 2004, is an occasional tester for the team following his decision to race in the ChampCar World Series.