Coulthard says qualifying will be crucial

The top 18 drivers were covered by just over a second in today's second practice session, and another tight qualifying is expected tomorrow at the Nurburgring circuit.

Coulthard, who wound up 17th quickest in today's afternoon session, reckons getting it right in qualifying will be crucial given the closely-matched field.

"Balance wise we were chasing some understeer in the morning then, as the conditions changed, we made some adjustments to the car so it came to being more rear limited at the end," said Coulthard.

"There's still potential there to bring together the entire lap and obviously we're going to be in a tight bunch again tomorrow so, as always, it will be very important to hook it all up right in qualifying."

Red Bull teammate Mark Webber was 11th quickest and the Australian was pleased with his day's work.

"That was a good session for us," said Webber. "I think we did everything we wanted and we got some really good data. Everyone got a little bit more running time on track than they expected, as the weather cleared and the track dried, and the car ran well so we're happy.

"I think we stand a good chance of getting into the top ten tomorrow."