Successful shakedown for new Red Bull 17 Jan 2008
David Coulthard was at the wheel of Red Bull Racing’s 2008 challenger at Jerez on Wednesday as the RB4 was given its first ever run. The team proclaimed the day a success, with Coulthard completing a total of 54 laps,
Following the car’s unveiling the Scot managed only a couple of installation laps on a damp track in the morning, but went on to put in some long runs in dry conditions in the afternoon to finish 12th in the times.
“Today was all about giving the new car a good shakedown and getting some miles on it,” said Red Bull’s chief technical officer. “Now we hope to settle down to proper performance testing, starting in Valencia next week. The car’s potential? Far too early to say!”
Technical director Geoff Willis added: “This was an encouraging start with quite a few laps completed for what was a shakedown day. We went through most of the systems and completed much of what we needed to do prior to performance testing.
“We were able to look at several elements, such as the cooling system and various other data, with everything working reasonably well. We now have a few days to get more parts ready for some tough testing in Valencia next week.”
Running alongside Coulthard in the RB4, team mate Mark Webber continued in last year’s RB3. “This has been a successful test and we are happy with the progress made,” commented chief test engineer, Ian Morgan. “We worked mainly on tuning the electronics, with particular regard to starts and got through all our programme.”
Red Bull resume testing at Spain’s Valencia circuit next week, running from 22 to 24 January.
