It seemed as through
Christian Klien really did have wings at the start of the British Grand Prix as he charged through the field to move up from 15th to
11th position overall. Although he dropped a place to Mark Webber, he became locked in a tense battle with the Australian. Pushing
hard aboard his RB1, Christian made several attempts to overtake the more experienced driver, before a brief excursion off the track
at Turn seven allowed Nick Heidfeld to sneak past and Klien dropped down to 13th. Starting from 13th position on the grid, two-time
British GP winner David Coulthard struggled with the set-up of his car from the outset. Despite both David and Christian setting a
string of reasonably competitive times, neither was able to make an impact on the top ten and they finished in 13th and 15th
position respectively.
DAVID COULTHARD, (Car 14) Finish Position: 13 Time: 1:25:33.495 Chassis No.: 3 Engine: TJ018 Start
Position: 13 (T-car: Set up for David Coulthard, Engine: TJ027)
David Coulthard: “I hope that was, at the very
least, entertaining for the crowds. Jacques overtook me near the start, but we continued to have a battle with both the Sauber and
the Williams. I was able to overtake Mark (Webber) just before my first stop, as we all had different levels of fuel in the car at
that time. I was surprised by the inconsistency of the car actually. At the start, I struggled with oversteer, so when we stopped we
took a sizeable chunk of aero out of the car. After that, I still wasn’t happy with the balance, but then, ten laps before the
second pit stop, the car suddenly changed and started going much quicker. So much so, I was struggling to keep up with it!! We
definitely need to work on a few things, but the support I received from the British fans here, both before and during the race, was
fantastic and I hope they enjoyed the show.”
Christian Klien: “Fifteenth is very disappointing. The car was
quite difficult to drive in sections and I didn’t have the balance that I needed. The start was quite good and I managed to move
up a few places. I was due to make my first pit stop early, so had a light car and could go pretty quick at the beginning. But I got
stuck behind Mark Webber and couldn’t go at my full pace. I also made a slight mistake on Turn seven. The car was a little nervous
on the entry to the corner and I think we had too much front grip. After the first pit stop, I had some clear laps and, as my car
was still quite light, I was able to set some good times. After that I got stuck behind Villeneuve and couldn’t go at my full pace
again for the rest of the race.”
Christian Horner, Sporting Director: “It was a tough afternoon. Both drivers
took different strategies, but we struggled for consistent pace here and, despite the drivers’ best efforts, they were not able to
progress through the field. The handicap of Christian running first in qualifying and of David missing half of the fourth practice
with an electrical problem definitely compromised our qualifying positions. Here at Silverstone, track position is everything as
overtaking is not very easy.”
Günther Steiner, Technical Director: “It seems we made the wrong tyre choice for
this race. The whole weekend did not go well for us. There’s nothing else to say really except that we’ll look to do things
better next time as this is not where we should be.”
Dave Prigg, Cosworth: “This was another race that proved
the reliability of the Cosworth TJ2005 engine, particularly pleasing since the introduction of the 12 series. Development of the
engine will continue, to ensure we provide further improvements in race performance over the coming events."
