Coulthard pulls out of test session with neck injury
Tuesday, 26 Feb 2008 20:16
David Coulthard was forced to pull out of a test session
David Coulthard was forced to pull out of Red Bull's test session in Barcelona after straining his neck, and now faces a fight to be fit for the final day of testing.
The Red Bull team has said the injury is not serious but will not want to aggravate the strain, with the March 16th season opener getting closer.
Sebastian Vettel switched from sister team Toro Rosso in order to cover for the Scot as the second team are only running one car compared to Red Bull's two.
Coulthard, who is about to embark on his 15th season in formula one, only managed 25 laps on Monday and although the morning was affected by wet weather the car seemed to struggle with technical problems throughout the day.
Mark Webber, Coulthard's team-mate, completed his 71 laps and recorded a fastest time of one minute 23.115 seconds, which was a full second slower than Briton Lewis Hamilton who recorded the fastest lap of testing so far in his McLaren.
Vettel, 20, had previously finished 11th fastest of 19 runners when testing the Toro Rosso car but the German has now got the chance to try out Red Bull's RB4, which Coulthard will use this season.