Klien Upbeat about Chances

Christian Klien is confident that his Red Bull Racing team are now back to the kind of impressive form they showed earlier on this season, despite a personally frustrating opening day of practice for the French Grand Prix

Klien was forced to watch from the sidelines for much of the day's running, after limiting his number of laps in the first session and then crashing out at high-speed early on in the second.

But despite his difficulties, the Austrian was pretty pleased with the general feel of the car - as teammate David Coulthard set the 10th fastest time in the afternoon.

"In the first session, I completed ten laps to get a feel for the track and see how the balance of the car was," explained Klien.

"It felt much better than it did ahead of the last two races - a lot more stable at the rear and easier to drive. I think that, definitely, the car is more competitive here than at previous races."

Coulthard was refusing to get too excited about the Friday form, although suggested that there were enough positive signs to be taken from the day.

"We've been evaluating the tyres the best we can and the balance of the car isn't so bad," he said. "Obviously, we'll have to see where we can make changes to get closer to the pace, but the balance doesn't feel too far away now and, ultimately, that's a good sign.

"If that's right, everything fits into place. We'll just have to wait and see how our pace is relative to the competition tomorrow."