Frustrated Coulthard Rues Lack of Running

Scot David Coulthard endured a miserable opening day for his Italian Grand Prix weekend, completing only 19 laps after missing nearly the whole second session.

McLaren driver Coulthard skidded and crashed out early in the afternoon session, ending a dismal day for him after receiving a fine of $8,500 for exceeding the pitlane speed limit in the morning hour-long session.

The Scot, currently fifth in the Championship standings, finished down in a disappointing 16th place.

"At the start of the second session the rear of the car locked up at the second Lesmo, and I'm not sure whether it was a problem with the brakes or the gearbox, but we will investigate further," explained the Scot.

"It's a little frustrating not to have completed more laps, especially in view of tyre evaluation, but with the information we gained from the test last week we should be OK."

Coulthard's teammate Kimi Raikkonen enjoyed a much more positive day at the wheel of the second McLaren, the Finn finishing in a promising third place slightly over half a second slower than Michael Schumacher, who topped the timesheets with the Ferrari.

"Two uneventful sessions for me where we worked to find an ideal set up and as I didn't do the test here last week I reacquainted myself with the Monza track," said Raikkonen. "We made a lot of progress and obviously I plan to be as fast as possible tomorrow, but whether I can keep third place we will have to wait and see. "