Coulthard: RBR to show real form in '08

The Briton scored Red Bull's first points of the year in the Spanish Grand Prix, and is optimistic that much more progress is possible this season now that the team are finally beginning to unlock star designer Adrian Newey's full potential.

Looking back on what that Barcelona result meant, Coulthard told autosport.com: "It was good. It was not just that we got the points, but more so that we clearly demonstrated our performances are improving.

"It showed that we are now on the right track. We are moving forward and get confidence from that because inevitably people had started to have doubts.

"It is down to the hard work by a whole group of us, led by Adrian. Given time I knew we could achieve it.

"But the real step, I believe, will come when we go into the next year. Then, we will have the continuity of the engine, the design team and all the data that we did not have this year."

Coulthard's confidence with the RB3 package could not have come at a better time, with the next race at Monaco being the scene of his surprise podium finish last year.

Although Ferrari and McLaren's current dominance makes a repeat result unlikely this time out, Coulthard is well aware of how much impact luck can have on the final result.

"I am quite confident that we should be in reasonable shape for the race," he said. "We have high expectations because I have done well there in the past.

"But this is a Grand Prix where we can be lucky or we can be unlucky. We just have to go and get our job done - and I am looking forward to it very much."