It was a bad day of testing for Red Bull Racing, yeserday. The plan was for both race drivers to go through an on-track dress rehearsal for the Bahrain Grand Prix, but things did not turn out that way for David Coulthard and Christian Klien.
It was another cold and damp start so after a single installation lap, our drivers, in line with several others, opted to stay in the pits until the track warmed up. When they went out at midday, Coulthard’s engine failed and Klien’s gearbox packed up in quick succession.
“David had a fresh engine, but it was not to the latest specification that we plan to run in Bahrain,” said Chief Test Engineer Ian Morgan. “Christian’s gearbox was quite high mileage, but we would not have expected it to fail when it did. Because he had a Bahrain spec engine, it was important to put as many miles on it as possible, but both guys lost a lot of track time, especially David, who only returned to the track with half an hour remaining.”
Both race drivers are back on track today, when the plan is for them to run through a qualifying and race simulation.
Press release
Red Bull Racing