05 March: Australian Grand Prix - Saturday Qualifying Report - Red Bull Racing
Free
Practice: David Coulthard and Christian Klien were 9th and 12th on aggregate in this morning’s rain-affected free practice.
Towards the end of the second session, Christian’s efforts to capitalise on his dry tyres were hampered by traffic. David said:
“The weather made things quite turbulent this morning, but conditions were the same for everybody.”
Qualifying: Red
Bull team-mates Christian Klien and David Coulthard have given themselves an excellent chance of competitive grid positions in the
season-opening Australian Grand Prix after posting top-six times in today’s rain-hit first qualifying session.
David
Coulthard: Chassis Number: 2 - Time: 1.38.320 - Position: 6 “Although my position is good, my lap time was quite
disappointing. My car had quite a lot of oversteer throughout the lap so I wasn't able to attack fully. If conditions had been like
that during a test session I would have come straight back in, but obviously you don't have that luxury in qualifying – you just
have to deal with it. Tomorrow is another day, though, and I'll do my best to finish and give the team some points in its first
race.”
Christian Klien: Chassis Number: 1 - Time: 1.37.486 - Position: 5 “In the final seconds before going
out, it is always difficult to make your tyre choice in conditions like these. It was very wet and I was the eighth car out, but I
made a late decision to go out on intermediates and think that was the right call. I went out not really knowing what to expect, but
my lap was all right and I don’t think I made any mistakes. Obviously it is difficult to say whether the chassis balance was
better than before but I was happy with the set-up given the conditions. But this is just the start. I’ll have to see how I do in
tomorrow’s final qualifying. ”
Christian Horner, Sporting Director: “We were lucky with the weather
conditions, which dictated the outcome of this session. However, having both cars in the top ten is a great start to the qualifying
session. ”
