Coulthard Not Getting Carried Away

As Coulthard's ninth fastest time, just one place behind third driver Vitantonio Liuzzi, saw him edge out the best efforts from BAR and Ferrari, the Scotsman still believed that varying fuel loads could be behind RBR's form.

"A pretty normal Friday really," said Coulthard. "We've been working through the programme, trying to find out where we are with the set-up of the car and tyres. We're not that far off the pace here compared to normal Fridays, but we don't know what fuel levels other people were running."

Teammate Christian Klien was less happy with his car as he struggled with understeer for much of the day - and then had a high-speed spin.

"I only did a few laps in the first practice to check the car's balance. It was okay, but I was struggling with severe understeer, so we tried some different set-ups during the afternoon," said the Austrian, who ended up 14th quickest.

"That improved things, although there was still some understeer in the high-speed corners.

"I had a bit of a moment when I spun the car off the track in Turn six during the second practice, but as there was no damage, I was able to continue and complete the run. We definitely seem to be more competitive here."