Coulthard Feeling Optimistic

The Briton joined teammate Christian Klien in opting not to run in the first practice session at the Hungaroring, so as not to waste laps on a dirty track, and then completed all his set-up work in the second session to finish 13th overall.

"We chose not to go out this morning for tactical reasons, but this afternoon we completed our normal Friday tyre evaluation programme," he said.

"I'm reasonably comfortable with the balance of the car now, we just need to fine-tune the controls a little and see how the track evolves tomorrow.

"We have a slightly different aero-package for this race, which feels better, but I think we can only judge where we are and note any improvements we've made once we've completed qualifying and ultimately, the race."

Klien, who was 10th quickest in the second session, was equally upbeat about the form of the Red Bull Racing cars.

"We only completed an installation lap in the first session, to check that the car was running correctly," he said. "We saved all our laps for the second session, as the Hungarian track is always quite dirty before many cars have run on it.

"The afternoon session was good for me I think. I did one run to get used to the track and the braking points and then got quickly up to speed. The balance of the car felt very good on one lap, but we have to improve it over long distances.

"Qualifying is really important here, as it's so hard to overtake during the race."