Coulthard Laments First Corner Incident

The Red Bull Racing driver could only finish in 15th position after he was involved in an incident at the first chicane, his car getting damaged after touching the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella.

Coulthard was forced to pit on the first lap and lost all his chances of a good result.

"I must say, I'm very disappointed," admitted Coulthard. "As a team, we felt we had a chance to pick up some points here, but we've come away with nothing and a bad qualifying slot for the next race.

"I touched the back of Fisichella's car and broke my front wing. I then had to make a pit stop, which lengthened my race strategy.

"I was battling with (Mark) Webber for the remainder of the race, and the team managed to get me in front of him during his pitstop. However, I was having difficulty balance-wise and he was able to pass me again later on.

"I've just looked at my car in parc ferme and the barge-board, the little deflector behind the front wheel, seems to be jammed at 45 degrees and stuck in the suspension, whereas it should be sitting in line with the chassis.
 
"That must have happened in the first-lap incident and was probably what was affecting the car's aerodynamics and balance."

Red Bull did not enjoy a good day, with Coulthard's teammate Christian Klien also failing to shine after struggling with his car's handling.

The Austrian finished down in 13th place.

"The race was not so good," he said. "I was late releasing the clutch and lost some time then, at the first corner, I was perhaps overcautious, as I didn't want to damage the front wing. After that, the car was difficult to drive, there was some over-steer and towards the end of the race, the rear tyres began to blister.

"We took some front flap off during the pit stop to help them, but it was still not easy to put the car exactly where I wanted it. As soon as I pushed, the tyres began to overheat and things were not so good."