Coulthard Impressed by Red Bull's Plans

Briton David Coulthard will stay in Formula One next year as a driver for Red Bull Racing.

Coulthard signed a one-year contract in Salzburg, headquarters of Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz who bought the Jaguar team from Ford and renamed it after his energy drink brand.

The team's other driver, likely to be either Austrian Christian Klien or Italian Formula 3000 champion Vitantonio Liuzzi, will be announced in the New Year.

Coulthard, 33, has been replaced at McLaren by Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and the Scot's Formula One prospects looked bleak until Red Bull showed an interest in him.

"After speaking to team owner Dietrich Mateschitz I was impressed by Red Bull Racing's plans for the future. This is definitely an exciting new team," the Austrian news agency APA quoted Coulthard as saying.

APA said Coulthard's contract would be performance-related.

Coulthard, with 13 career victories, has won more races than any driver still active in Formula One other than Ferrari's seven times World Champion Michael Schumacher - who won that many this year alone.

His last victory was in Australia in March 2003 and he has struggled with the single lap qualifying format, failing to step on the podium at all this year.

Red Bull had been expected to sign the Scot after team bosses said they needed someone with experience to guide the team through the transition from Jaguar.

Coulthard and Germany's Nick Heidfeld were the two experienced available drivers but Heidfeld has big hopes of landing a drive with Williams, the team that launched Coulthard's career in 1994.

"Having an experienced driver is a no-brainer," said managing director David Pitchforth this week, who added that Coulthard had "all the experience and the ability to take the team forward that I need."

Both Klien and Liuzzi are Red Bull-backed drivers. Klien has the advantage of a year in Formula One already with Jaguar but Liuzzi is seen as a dazzling prospect for the future.

The Italian, who needs to build his experience and get up to race fitness, could be given the Friday test role with a promise of Coulthard's job in 2006.