03/04/2005
NEWS STORY
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: 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.
Günther Steiner, Technical Director: In the end it was a lucky race, we got a point which is great. But I feel very sorry for Christian. It seems like we had an electronic problem due to the heat but we have to do an investigation as the car did later fire upon a second try in the garage. So we have to go home, do an investigation and sort out the problem for the next race. David's car was reliable throughout the race but, as we experienced throughout this weekend, his balance was never really good and therefore he wasn't on the pace of the front-runners. But in the end we got away with a point and made the best out of the worst.
David Prigg, Cosworth: I'm delighted for David scoring a point in his third consecutive race, but disappointed that Christian was unable to start the race. We are currently investigating why his engine would not start on the grid but we suspect an electronics problem.