David Coulthard

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Coulthard upsets testing form book

David Coulthard and Red Bull Racing turned the winter testing form book on its head by setting the fastest time on the final day of running at Barcelona on Wednesday.

In the first real evidence of pace from the Adrian Newey-designed RB3, Coulthard clocked a best lap of 1m21.855s to top the times by one-tenth of a second.

The upturn in performance was as timely as it was dramatic, coinciding with a visit to the Catalunya track by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

But it wasn’t all good news for the energy-drink company as Coulthard and team-mate Mark Webber both suffered technical maladies.

The Australian was hit by a drivetrain problem, brought out two red flags after stopping on track and completed a modest 62 laps.

BMW Sauber impressed once again as Nick Heidfeld set the second fastest time in the F1.07.

The German spent the morning doing aerodynamic evaluations but the team cut short this programme due to the strong winds and thereafter Heidfeld concentrated on cooling tests.

German teenager Sebastian Vettel took over the second F1.07 from Robert Kubica but technical problems and a couple of off-course excursions restricted him to 53 laps.

Ferrari duo Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were third and seventh fastest respectively, but logged comparatively little mileage as both had completed a full duty cycle on their engines.

Massa’s Tuesday time of 1m21.181s stands as the fastest of the week by more than half a second – underlining the raw pace of the F2007.

Michael Schumacher was on hand to watch the final day of the test, dressed in a Ferrari jacket and watching intently from the pit wall.

McLaren team-mates Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were fourth and sixth on the timesheets as they continued aerodynamic development and set-up evaluation with the MP4-22.

They were split by Nico Rosberg in the promising Toyota-powered Williams FW29, which again upstaged the factory Toyota outfit.

Renault again kept a low profile, setting only the ninth and 10th best times, with Giancarlo Fisichella fractionally quicker than Heikki Kovalainen on this occasion.

Mechanical problems prevented both drivers from completing their planned programmes.

Honda continued to languish in the lower half of the timing charts, with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello marooned in 12th and 13th places.

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Testing times from Barcelona

1. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m21.855s :hell yea!:

2. HEIDFELD BMW 1m21.955s

3. MASSA Ferrari 1m21.958s

4. ALONSO McLaren 1m22.103s

5. ROSBERG Williams 1m22.271s

6. HAMILTON McLaren 1m22.292s

7. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m22.363s

8. MONTAGNY Toyota 1m22.446s

9. FISICHELLA Renault 1m22.758s

10. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m22.783s

11. WEBBER Red Bull 1m22.834s

12. BUTTON Honda 1m23.061s

13. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m23.257s

14. WURZ Williams 1m23.271s

15. VETTEL BMW 1m23.571s

16. R SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m23.789s

17. ALBERS Spyker 1m23.947s

18. SATO Super Aguri1m24.568s

19. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m26.296s

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Red Bull pleased with Barca run

Red Bull Racing reckons the 116 laps David Coulthard clocked up on its new RB3 car on the final day of testing at Barcelona was more impressive than the driver’s shock timesheet-topping performance.

The appearance of the RB3 at the head of the field on Wednesday marked a dramatic upturn in pace for the team’s first Adrian Newey design, after both RBR drivers had been marooned towards the bottom of the times in the year’s early tests.

But despite turning the winter form book on its head, Red Bull’s head of race and test engineering Paul Monaghan admitted he was more pleased with Coulthard’s mileage during the session as the team strives to improve the reliability of its new car after early setbacks.

"We are very pleased with the way this three day test has gone," he said.

"And yes, it's nice to see David is quickest, at least for today, but more impressive is the fact he completed 116 laps.

"We can be happy with the mileage we have completed over the three days and also with the fact that our relationship with Renault and Bridgestone continues to improve, as has the overall performance and reliability of the car.

“Now we look forward to more work on both these parameters when we head off for hotter conditions at the Bahrain test, starting on February 22."

While Coulthard enjoyed a productive day, the session was not as straightforward for team-mate Mark Webber.

After his running time was compromised at Jerez last week by a series of glitches on his RB3, a drivetrain problem struck the Australian's car on the final day at Barcelona – limiting him to just 62 laps and 11th place on the times.

However Monaghan believes the team can overcome the problem ahead of next week’s Bahrain test.

“We are confident we can get on top of that,” he said.

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Karen

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He's been a Formula One fixture for 14 years, but what do we really know about the Red Bull driver? Yes, he’s won 13 races and scored 513 championship points, but what about Elvis Presley, Claudia Schiffer and those kiss and tell stories? David Coulthard reveals all…

Q: What's the most unusual request you've had from a fan?

DC: ‘Impregnate me’.

Q: What would you be if you weren’t a racing driver?

DC: Fat and happy, working in the family transport business.

Q: Who would you want to play you in a movie?

DC: Claudia Schiffer or someone similar to that!

Q: Your favorite song for karaoke?

DC: ’Suspicious Minds’ by Elvis Presley.

Q: When you're at home, what do you listen to when driving?

DC: I don’t really drive that much, but my ipod has millions of songs on it - pretty much every genre is covered.

Q: Funniest thing you've read about yourself in the press?

DC: The kiss and tells are always funny as they always say you’re an amazing lover. I find that funny.

Q: What's in your garage at home?

DC: Mind your own business!

Q: Your most embarrassing moment?

DC: To be honest, things that people typically see as embarrassing moments, I see as life’s journey.

Q: Best part of being a Formula One driver - apart from the driving?

DC: Flexible work hours.

Q: Tell us something we don't know about you?

DC: You don’t know it, as I don’t want people to know!

Q: Your most prized possession?

DC: I’m not into possessions...

Q: Person you most admire?

DC: I really admire my parents, they have a good work ethic and how they brought us up is great.

Q: Do you have any bad habits?

DC: Bad habits are usually something you don’t realise yourself. Who are they bad for, you or others? Normally a bad habit is something that annoys other people, so it’s hard to say…

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Coulthard downplays season prospects

Red Bull's David Coulthard fears he may have to revise his goals for the Formula One season starting next month after mixed results with the new car in pre-season testing.

"At the moment we're not going to achieve the goals I had for the year," the Scot told the official Formula One website "But we've got some more time to develop and hopefully, once we've done that, we can try and achieve them."

The 35-year-old, winner of 13 Grands Prix with Williams and McLaren, said fifth place in the championship was still a realistic target for his Renault-powered team.

"Of course it's realistic. Other teams are not doing anything that's not humanly possible, it's just that they've got the right mix of technical investment and facilities. That's what we need to continue to develop at Red Bull and then the results will come.

"The current things we are working on are the gearbox, overall reliability and basically building our relationship with Renault and learning about its electronic systems," said Coulthard.

"The package is not yet optimised so we've got a lot of work to do to get the performance we want."

The new RB3 car is the first designed for the team by former Williams and McLaren designer Adrian Newey. Coulthard's Australian teammate Mark Webber has struggled to fit comfortably into it.

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The Mood Film

Red Bull drivers will star in a movie produced by the Austrian company, which will be distributed at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

It will be the second year that Red Bull has produced a pre-season movie, known within the company as "The Mood Film".

The film features Red Bull Racing drivers David Coulthard and Mark Webber in a scrap with Toro Rosso duo Scott Speed and Tonio Liuzzi.

To film this production, Coulthard and Webber were sent off to the Czech Republic, while Speed and Liuzzi filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The movie will be distributed to TV companies in Melbourne at the time of the Australian Grand Prix, and it will also be playing during the GP weekend in Red Bull's Energy Station.

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DC: Red Bull not yet ready to hit targets

David Coulthard has admitted that Red Bull Racing is not yet in a position to allow him to achieve his personal targets for 2007 with its first Adrian Newey-designed car.

Both the 35-year-old Scot and the RBR squad as a whole had pinned their hopes of a competitive season on the renowned designer’s RB3, after the team publicly wrote off its 2006 season early on to concentrate on Newey’s first car.

But apart from a promising timesheet-topping performance on the final day of last week's Barcelona test, the RB3 has yet to show the level of performance expected of it in group testing over the past month.

Coulthard has told Formula 1’s official website that the team still has a substantial amount of development work ahead of it before he could hit his targets in the forthcoming campaign.

“At the moment we’re not going to achieve the goals I had for the year, but we’ve got some more time to develop and hopefully, once we’ve done that, we can try and achieve them,” he said.

“The current things we’re working on are the gearbox, overall reliability and basically building our relationship with [engine supplier] Renault and learning about its electronic systems.

“The package is not yet optimised so we’ve got a lot of work to do to get the performance we want.

“There are some upgrades for the Bahrain test and some things we should have prior to Australia, which should help.”

RBR boss Christian Horner stated prior to the launch of the RB3 last month that the team’s target for 2007 was to jump from seventh to fifth in the constructors’ standings.

That target is still achievable according to Coulthard – but only if the team continues to invest in its infrastructure.

“Of course it’s realistic,” he said.

“Other teams are not doing anything that’s not humanly possible, it’s just that they’ve got the right mix of technical investment and facilities.

“That’s what we need to continue to develop at Red Bull and then the results will come."

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Bahrain 24 February 2007

1 F. Alonso 01:30.994 73

2 L. Hamilton 01:31.094 53

3 F. Massa 01:31.718 52

4 K. Räikkönen 01:31.867 100

5 H. Kovalainen 01:32.032 86

6 R. Barrichello 01:32.115 129

7 J. Button 01:32.137 78

8 D. Coulthard 01:32.220 73

9 N. Piquet jr. 01:32.334 102

10 N. Heidfeld 01:32.451 65

11 R. Kubica 01:32.475 95

12 A. Davidson 01:32.553 126

13 F. Montagny 01:32.917 110

14 M. Webber 01:33.034 73

15 J. Trulli 01:33.062 104

16 S. Speed 01:33.255 60

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Red Bull happy with Coulthard times

25 February 2007

For Red Bull Racing, work continued on development of RB3 set-up and engine and ancillary cooling components in the hotter conditions of Bahrain this week. The team also worked on testing braking in the hot desert conditions and evaluating two types of Bridgestone tyre.

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Signs of progress for Red Bull

Red Bull Racing wrapped up six days of testing in Bahrain with signs of progress as Mark Webber completed a race simulation and Coulthard also did several long runs.

Click here

"This has been a very useful six days here during which time we have been able to see how the car responds in the conditions we faced out here, while also fine tuning our race preparation work for Australia," said team boss Christian Horner.

"The test has not been trouble free and a few elements still need fixing, but we have made some progress," he added. "Next week, we will run at Magny-Cours for two days when, as planned, the RB3 will run with the new aerodynamic package that will be used in the first race in Melbourne."

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Karen Minier

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