David Coulthard has expressed his frustration with “inconsistencies” in the Red Bull RB3 that he says cost him pace in the Turkish Grand Prix.
Despite qualifying 13th he managed to pull a 10th-place finish out of the hat and avoid a hydraulics failure in the notoriously problematic gearbox that caused team-mate Mark Webber to retire on lap nine.
However, speaking after the race, he revealed that his success had come despite having to struggle with the RB3, which once again proved itself a handful.
He said: “I made a good start and made up a few places, I think four, and thereafter I found the car to be a bit inconsistent which did not help me maintain a good pace throughout the race, especially when I had a bit of fuel on board.
“Now we will just have to see what we can find for the next race in Monza.”
Team-mate Mark Webber, whose car let go on lap nine to cause his fifth retirement of the season, added: “It’s a shame because I was fuelled to go for a long stint, longer than those directly ahead of us and I was just sitting in there, ready to go for it for the rest of the race.
“On the lap before I stopped I started to have problems with downshifting and then the team called me in to retire.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner pointed to the “total reliability” of all the cars ahead of Coulthard on the track and praised the driver for his tenth-place finish in difficult circumstances.
He said: “He drove a good race and got the most out of the package. Of course it was disappointing to post a retirement with Mark.
“We have learnt quite a lot this weekend about the areas in which we need to improve. We must now try to move forward and that starts with next week’s test in Monza.”