Coulthard hit by brake pedal problem

"After the second stop, for some reason the brake pedal was rubbing on the steering column, which had a double effect," said Coulthard after the race.

"I lost some of the braking and also a little bit of the steering, so the only thing to do was to stop the car."

Red Bull said they would "quarantine" the brake pedal and look into the problem.

The team endured a poor day, with Mark Webber finishing down in tenth, a position the Australian said was the best he could have hoped for judging the pace of their car.

"Tenth is about where we could have hoped to finish today," said Webber. "The car ran reliably and the pit stops went well, but of course, we're always looking to improve and it's still early days.

"It's a tough GP here in Malaysia; it was a big test for the team today and we got the car home, so there are a lot of positives in that."