Understeer for the Red Bull cars
A double finish for the Red Bull Racing Team, but no happy faces. David Coulthard finished 12th and team mate Christian Klien 14th. Both drivers complained about understeer. The team is already focussing on the next race and hopes to improve the car and score points in Canada.
David Coulthard "The car had a lot of understeer during the race. I thought I might have done some damage to its underside when I was pushed wide over the kerb at the exit of Stowe on lap one during a battle with Jacques Villeneuve. There was more understeer than there had been during qualifying or the practices and I was surprised by the car's balance. We increased the front aero by two percent during the race to reduce the understeer, which is a hell of a lot, and it was a little better by the end. Mechanically we performed well, but aero efficiency wise, which is what you need round a circuit like this, we're not where we need to be and we know we've got work to do. The team's knuckling down and getting on with it and I'm looking forward to next week's test."
Christian Klien "The race was a disaster for me, I think. I had to start on scrub tyres, so I lost two positions at the start and it was difficult to warm them on the low grip track. I had a lot of understeer during the race and struggled through the high-speed corners. As a result, I lost time in the first sector. The second stint was better; I added some front flap and the pace at that point was actually very good. I made up time on David, but unfortunately not enough to jump Tonio. In the last stint my tyres were badly damaged and for the last ten laps the pace of the car was pretty far away from the top eight."
Christian Horner "It was a long afternoon in a race with little attrition. The top three teams dominated the top six places and BMW did a good job to take the last few points. We obviously need to find some more pace and we'll be working on that at the next few tests. David was very consistent during the race and Christian needed to find about another second to clear Tonio in his middle stint, which unfortunately he just missed."