After a thoroughly reliable weekend, Christian Klien‘s race unfortunately ended before it had begun when his car stalled on the grid at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The car was quickly pushed back to the pits to allow him to make his start but despite the best efforts of the team he failed to get going, sidelined by a suspected electronics problem probably brought on by the intense heat on the grid. David Coulthard, however, salvaged a point with a dogged performance that allowed him to claim 8th place on the final lap having started from 14th on the grid.

David Coulthard: Finish position: 8th Fastest lap: 1:33.417
Chassis number: 2 Engine: 18 Start position: 14th

Christian Klien: Finish position: DNF Fastest lap: -
Chassis number: 1 Engine: 23 Start position: 8
T-car: set up for Christian Klien Engine: 40

David Coulthard
“At the end, Barrichello was a lot slower in his braking area and kept overshooting, so I pretty much lined him up for a couple of laps and I knew I was going to have a go on the last lap. A point out of a difficult weekend is encouraging but now we need to do a total investigation of where we are with the car because I just struggled badly in the race and in qualifying.”

Christian Klien
“My car stalled on the grid so we wanted to start in the pits but it wasn’t possible, I think it was due to an electronic failure. It is really a shame because the whole weekend went really well for me and to retire so early wasn’t the goal.”

Christian Horner, Sporting Director “It was a good end to a frustrating start. It was really disappointing for Christian to not make the start after such a strong weekend but at least with David we had a fairly lengthy strategy that panned out for us. He really stuck with it and we salvaged a point. It was a pretty exciting finish on the last lap and perseverance and persistence paid off. We were again reliable with David’s car and another point and we’re looking forward to getting back to Europe. ”

2005 Bahrain Grand Prix - Main Page
2005 Bahrain Grand Prix - Team and Driver Race Reports Page

Sunday Qualifying

David Coulthard
Chassis number: 2 1st qualifying: 1:31.211 Total qualifying time: 3:05.844
Starting position: 14th

“As far as the balance of the car goes, I had a lot more understeer this morning, which is what you would expect with more fuel on board. I don’t seem to have managed many good laps here, but this was definitely the worst one of the weekend. I drove an untidy lap and I just wished I could start all over again. I’m not making excuses, but I also got a bit distracted, seeing the Ferrari parked at the side of the track. Hopefully, things will go better in the race and I am sure Christian has a good chance of scoring points, as he seems to have got well tuned into his car this weekend.”

Christian Klien
Chassis number: 1 1st qualifying: 1:30.646 Total qualifying time: 3:03.369
Starting position: 7th

“This was a fantastic lap for me and the car felt good although of course it was a bit harder to drive than yesterday, because of the heavier fuel load. I am very happy with the way it went, as I have been able to make up one position on the grid and from the fourth row, I can expect to have a good race and hopefully score some more points for me and the team.”

2005 Bahrain Grand Prix - Main Page

Latest Formula 1 News from Red Bull Racing: