Coulthard downplays practice performance

The Scot finished as eighth fastest, two places behind teammate Mark Webber, but he believes things will be different come tomorrow's qualifying.

"We ran through our programme well today and balance-wise we're looking okay," said Coulthard. "We had a good tyre evaluation, so we're not overly concerned by the choices we have to make for tomorrow.

"Our times were competitive, but, to be honest, irrespective of where we are on Fridays, if you look at Saturday's qualifying times, it's been quite similar throughout the year with McLaren, Ferrari, BMW and then Red Bull with Renault, Toyota and Williams.

"I think it will be similar tomorrow."

Webber said the team needed to work some more to find more consistency, but the Australian was pleased with his afternoon session.

"That was a good Friday running today," said Webber. "We got through our schedule okay and the car was reliable. We're going to run through a few things tonight to see if we can get a bit more consistency but, apart from that, it was a good P2.

"P1 wasn't that great for us - but P2 was much better and it's something strong for us to work with tonight."