Starting from 21st on the grid after a gearbox problem in qualifying, Red Bull's David Coulthard had little to lose at the Bahrain grand prix on Sunday. Coulthard opted for an aggressive race strategy and had just moved up to seventh position when he called into the pits for his stop. Seconds later he was cruising back in with a driveshaft failure.
Team-mate Mark Webber took over the seventh spot and despite his fuel flap being open was running well until he suffered a gearbox failure. Points lost for the Red Bull Renault team again.
David Coulthard “We lost the right rear drive shaft and I had to stop. We were on an aggressive race strategy, which had been working well. Typically from the back you would go one stop and long but, as we saw in Malaysia, the one stop option didn’t provide a chance to overtake – so we went for the shorter strategy. The race car felt good, the strategy was good, and I think it would have paid off. We’re going through some growing pains at the moment, but we will get through it and we’ll be stronger on the other side, everyone’s working very hard back in the factory.”
Mark Webber “The car had an open fuel flap in the second stint, which was the same problem we had in Australia. It’s bloody frustrating. After the pit stop, I got myself back in position again, but then something failed and I had to retire. The pace was good, but the result is the same even so.”
Christian Horner “Frustrating is the only way to describe today’s race. Driving an aggressive strategy, David was a candidate for driver of the day. He overtook more than ten cars and looked set for a strong points finish, only for a driveshaft related failure to force his retirement. Mark made a good start and pushed Fisichella very hard in the first stint.
Unfortunately he lost time in the second stint due to a fuel flap failure and, ultimately, a gear box issue caused him to retire. We need to get on top of these reliability issues very quickly, as obviously they’re unacceptable. However, we can see that we’ve continued to make progress and should have had two cars in the points today.”
Fabrice Lom, Renault “Although both cars retired today, I think it is still a positive day. We showed a very good level of performance and our engine worked once again well. Our pace today was very encouraging, David did an aggressive race, overtook several competitors. Of course we are disappointed not to finish but we should be satisfied by what has been achieved so far, especially after the tough winter we went through. We look forward the next race to confirm our competitiveness and will work hard before the Spanish Grand Prix.”
Team-mate Mark Webber took over the seventh spot and despite his fuel flap being open was running well until he suffered a gearbox failure. Points lost for the Red Bull Renault team again.
David Coulthard “We lost the right rear drive shaft and I had to stop. We were on an aggressive race strategy, which had been working well. Typically from the back you would go one stop and long but, as we saw in Malaysia, the one stop option didn’t provide a chance to overtake – so we went for the shorter strategy. The race car felt good, the strategy was good, and I think it would have paid off. We’re going through some growing pains at the moment, but we will get through it and we’ll be stronger on the other side, everyone’s working very hard back in the factory.”
Mark Webber “The car had an open fuel flap in the second stint, which was the same problem we had in Australia. It’s bloody frustrating. After the pit stop, I got myself back in position again, but then something failed and I had to retire. The pace was good, but the result is the same even so.”
Christian Horner “Frustrating is the only way to describe today’s race. Driving an aggressive strategy, David was a candidate for driver of the day. He overtook more than ten cars and looked set for a strong points finish, only for a driveshaft related failure to force his retirement. Mark made a good start and pushed Fisichella very hard in the first stint.
Unfortunately he lost time in the second stint due to a fuel flap failure and, ultimately, a gear box issue caused him to retire. We need to get on top of these reliability issues very quickly, as obviously they’re unacceptable. However, we can see that we’ve continued to make progress and should have had two cars in the points today.”
Fabrice Lom, Renault “Although both cars retired today, I think it is still a positive day. We showed a very good level of performance and our engine worked once again well. Our pace today was very encouraging, David did an aggressive race, overtook several competitors. Of course we are disappointed not to finish but we should be satisfied by what has been achieved so far, especially after the tough winter we went through. We look forward the next race to confirm our competitiveness and will work hard before the Spanish Grand Prix.”