Red Bull: suspension strength not a concern

For the second time in two weeks, Coulthard saw his car suffer major suspension damage after an off-track excursion.

In Australia, his suspension collapsed after the RB4 was pitched into the air following a collision with Felipe Massa, while at Sepang the front suspension broke when he clouted a kerb after running off the track at Turn 13.

Despite the similarities in the extent of suspension damage, team principal Christian Horner has played down any worries about the strength of the car.

"The kerb that is down at Turn 13 is pretty aggressive when they are going that quickly," said Horner. "If you look closely, it is the front wing that has done the damage first.

"Obviously the car saw a bit of air in Melbourne with Massa, so I don't think it is anything unusual.

"These cars aren't designed to fly through the air. We don't build them to go two metres into the air, it's as simple as that. Any car in the pitlane that would have had that impact, would have had a similar outcome."

Horner said the team were not yet aware of what had caused Coulthard to run off the track in the first place. The on-board footage of the accidents appears to show a problem with the right front wheel - perhaps caused by a steering arm or suspension failure.

"We are currently investigating it," explained Horner. "He felt something wasn't right when he went into the left hander, so whether he has had either a puncture of a track rod problem we don't know.

"The engineers are pouring over data as we speak. We should have some answers later on today."