Gearbox problem for Coulthard

One test session, four days, two race tracks, three grands prix: that pretty much sums up the efforts of Red Bull Racing, who have been running at the Paul Ricard track in the South of France since Tuesday.

Today, although running on the configuration of the Le Castellet circuit that most closely resembles the demand of the Montreal track, David Coulthard also did some work for the Monaco race, working on suspension development. After the difficulties of the Barcelona weekend, reliability was top of the agenda this week. "We have consolidated on our good result in Spain, by improving both in terms of performance and reliability," reckoned Chief Test Engineer, Ian Morgan. "Even though a gearbox problem stopped David slightly early today, the component had exceeded its usual life and generally, we managed more than our target mileage over the four days. So we have moved forward, but of course, so have the other teams. The new race weekend timetable means we will be able to continue with some development work at the races."

The circuit used for the past two days also has some relevance for the US Grand Prix, apart from the fact that Indy requires different tyre compounds, hence the claim that we have now finished preparations for the next three races. Our test team will be back in action at the big Silverstone extravaganza in mid-June.

Driver: David Coulthard
Car: RB3 - 04
Times: David Coulthard: 1.29.834 - 77 laps
F/L: Kimi Raikkonen: 1.28.624
Circuit length: 5.255 km