Coulthard refusing to be downbeat

The Scotsman was drafted in for an extra test at Valencia in Spain this week in a bid to help the team iron out continued mechanical problems - but he once again failed to complete a race distance run.

Speaking to autosport.com after the test, Coulthard admitted that he was not happy about the reliability issues but claimed that he suffered a similar situation before McLaren's title-winning campaign in 1998.

"Obviously I am disappointed that we had a failure on the engine as we could not do the mileage," said Coulthard. "That means if I finish the race in Bahrain that will be the first race distance we have completed.

"However in 1998 we (McLaren) had not completed a single race distance yet we lapped the field in Melbourne...."

Coulthard, who is under no illusions of being able to repeat that feat this time out, claims the team are currently paying the price for the cooling issues that they suffered from during the early running of the RB2.

"We are on top of the cooling issues now, but we are paying the penalty for not having been able to run in the earlier part of winter testing," he explained. "I think we were second to Toyota in bringing out the new car in December but we lost valuable time.

"Also we had a delay in production which meant we were a bit in short supply of parts, so we were nearly last to bring out the second chassis."

The reliability issues have at least served to give Red Bull Racing something to focus on in the early part of the season.

"We know where we need to go and concentrate," added Coulthard. "We need  mileage really. If you see Honda, they have done 25,000km in testing whereas we have done just over 7,000km. It is just incredible.

"At the end of the day you get what you develop by improving performance on the track."