By Ian Lockwood
July 18 2005

On Sunday 17 July, Red Bull Racing became the first Formula 1 team to run a car over the Bosphorus bridge in Turkey, prior to the country’s inaugural grand prix, which takes place on 21 August.

Source: Redbullracing.com

David Coulthard was at the wheel of an RB01 and the historic drive took him from Europe to Asia in the space of a few minutes, as he drove the car from the magnificent Dolmabahce Palace in the European part of Istanbul over the vast Bosphorus Bridge, which leads into the Asian side of the city.

Prior to the run, Turkey’s Minister of Tourism unveiled the car with the special livery it will carry for this race, featuring the Turkey tourism logo on its sides, as part of a joint promotion to publicise tourism in the country.

David set off from the Palace, travelling through the town before crossing the bridge. He then stunned the crowd with a series of smoky rubber-burning doughnuts, before heading back to the Palace where he was met by a crowd of civic dignitaries and journalists. They got more than they bargained for as Coulthard drove the car on stage, when it overheated because of the slow speed at which it had to travel and promptly caught fire!

When the smoke died away, the event ended as David tackled a press conference for the local and international media. On Saturday, the Red Bull Racing driver visited the new race track and was impressed with what he saw, after driving round it in a road car: “this is going to be one of the most difficult race tracks on the calendar,” reckoned the Scotsman. “It will be very challenging, partly because of all the changes of gradient.”