Coulthard ready to drive after back injury

The Scotsman tweaked his back on the final morning of the test at the Circuit de Catalunya and had to withdraw from driving after just a handful of laps because of the pain he was in.

Although the fact he did not drive during a Red Bull filming day at Paul Ricard on Monday prompted rumours that he could even be a doubt for the Bahrain Grand Prix because of the problem, Coulthard is confident he is now back to full fitness for the final pre-season test.

"I am definitely testing at Valencia," he told autosport.com. "It's just a normal thing really. I tweaked my back stretching one morning and it caused some trouble, but I've had some physio, I've rested it over the weekend and I should be okay for this week.

"If there is a problem then there will be other drivers there ready to step into the car."

It is understood that Red Bull Racing's third driver Robert Doornbos will attend the Valencia test just in case Coulthard needs to rest some more.

This week's run at Valencia is crucial for Red Bull Racing as they bid to make up for the time lost in pre-season testing caused by major cooling issues. The team have yet to complete a full race-distance with their RB2 and are hoping to get on top of the reliability issues that have dogged recent tests.

Sporting director Christian Horner said earlier this week that there were some rough edges that needed to be ironed out.

"Everyone in the team is working flat out to be as well prepared as possible for Bahrain and the final test in Valencia will give us more track time to smooth out a few rough edges in the overall package," he explained.