Jonathan Noble: Off Line

After a week of sporting disappointment for the English nation, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner wasted little time in comparing the state of his squad to another high-profile brigade. 'We have been a bit like our rugby team,' he smiled.

He was right. The comparison to England's losing World Cup finalists was a pretty neat way of summing up RBR's campaign. After a poor start to the competition, the team pulled together to really hit form at the crucial late stages as it got within touching distance of a great result, only to fall at the final hurdle.

For RBR, it was poor reliability that let it down early on. After introducing some breakthrough parts at the pre-Japanese Grand Prix Jerez test, the team was on the verge of overhauling Williams for fourth in the constructors' championship. But at the end of it all Red Bull tripped up, with Mark Webber suffering at Interlagos a return of the transmission problems that have marred the season. That left the way open for Williams to keep its advantage in the points table.

Horner was left wondering what might have been. 'We went into the race with big hopes of overhauling Williams, and it is frustrating that we didn't achieve that,' he said. 'But there is a lot that we can be positive on from the last couple of months.

'We have clearly made progress, put performance on the car. There are issues that are being addressed by Adrian [Newey], Geoff [Willis] and the transmission department. We have got the solid foundations to build on for the future.'

Technical chief Newey had made it clear at the start of the year that the focus of the RB3 would be on out-and-out performance, even if it was at the expense of reliability. But even he was probably left surprised about how poor the team's reliability was at times in 2007.

And the determination to eliminate reliability issues with the team's transmission will have some urgency this winter because of the need for gearboxes to last four races next year. 'The target is obviously 100 per cent reliability next year,' said Horner. 'There has been a fundamental issue with the transmission that was built in or inherent with its design, so we've been polishing and fettling it all year.

'With the evolution into next year's car, it gives us the chance to fundamentally address the problems that we have. The challenge of four races? We have a good group of people involved within the gearbox group now and I don't see any reason why we should not get on top of it.'

Horner thinks the team has understood what caused the reliability dramas this year. 'Through good design you get good reliability,' he said. 'I think that is what we will manage to implement and have to achieve next year. This year we have given away far too many cheap points - I think 20 to 25 points - through poor reliability. We have made a big step forward in performance - we need to tidy up the reliability to have a go at the guys ahead of us now.'

For David Coulthard and Webber, the focus on a reliability drive will be hugely welcome. But for now, the bonus is simply that the team managed to show some great speed in the final part of the campaign, proving that it may well be on the verge of a breakthrough.

'It is good for the team, but more for all the staff and not just the management,' said Webber about the flip-up of speed from the RB3. 'I am happy for the soldiers, and all the chiefs at the factory, everyone. It gives them a sniff of something. If you get flogged into the ground all year, it's not nice. So at least we've finished with a little bit of a canter.'