Coulthard: V8 cars are better balanced

The Scottish driver had his first major run with his Red Bull Racing-Ferrari at Jerez in Spain on Tuesday and he claimed that the cars are an improvement in terms of their power-to-grip ratio.

Speaking to autosport.com, he said: "The car is definitely different as it has lost power. It is the same grip but with 20 percent or so less power - and in fact it is more in balance now.

"The cars were not in balance when we had more horsepower compared to the grip that we had.

"Is it more friendly to drive? I suppose in the corners we never used to be able to go flat, and we can go flat now. But is it easier to do a quick lap? To do a good lap is still difficult I think, but we will just have to adapt to a different driving style."

Coulthard believes that the key to any team gaining an edge on the opposition this season will be in how well they adapt to the changes brought about by new regulations.

"The engines are just part of a series of changes we are going through," he added. "You can say it is a messy interim period at the moment, so until we get used to it, it is not comfortable.

"However, we are always going through changes because the regulations keeps changing, like next year we will have a one make tyre, and after that slicks. It just depends who gets used to it quickly."