Coulthard reserves judgement

Red Bull and Coulthard were one of the surprises of the 2005 season, with the veteran Scot scoring 24 points on his way to 12th place in the standings.

Following a promising 2005, expectations for the 2006 season are higher, but the team's progress in winter testing has been hindered by some cooling problems that stopped them from completing long runs until this month.

Red Bull are confident they have solved those problems, meaning they can finally focus on developing the car and bring it up to speed for the first race of the season in three weeks time.

Coulthard, however, prefers to reserve judgement on how competitive Red Bull can be.

"As always, I only rate the performance in race weekends. I really honestly cannot tell you where we stand at the moment," Coulthard told autosport.com. "One thing is that we have improved sufficiently enough to be able to do some long distance, which is good.

"In fact, this is essential at this time of the year, and we know where we need to go, but on the performance (of the package) I would like to reserve judgement. It is too early to say."

The team have introduced a revised bodywork in this week's test at Valencia, and Coulthard's teammate Christian Klien was pleased with the improved performance of the RB2.

The Scot, on the other hand, remained cautious.

"On the aero side, I am not comfortable to say 'we are at this level'. I really do not know where are, and we may see more in Barcelona, but until the first race we really don't know."

At the same time, Coulthard dismissed concerns that the car was too tricky to drive at the limit.

"Well, a fast car is always difficult to drive, so that really does not count. You may finish first because you are fast, but it does not mean because it is easy to drive. What is important is how well we do in the summer, not now."