By Ian Lockwood
May 28 2006

“It’s so great, fantastic. It’s been a couple of years since I was on the podium, so it’s especially great to finish on it here in Monaco. It’s the first podium for Red Bull Racing, too and a great reward for all the team’s hard work."

David Coulthard, (Finish Position THIRD! Start Position: 7th)

“It’s so great, fantastic. It’s been a couple of years since I was on the podium, so it’s especially great to finish on it here in Monaco. It’s the first podium for Red Bull Racing, too and a great reward for all the team’s hard work. Monaco’s always a tough race. Once you get into it, you think you’ve done about fifty laps, but then you see that you’ve only done about twelve. It’s such a hard, physical race and takes a lot out of you.”

Christian Klien, (Finish Position DNF, Start Position: 11th)

“I lost drive during the race and that was the end of it. It’s such a shame as the car was feeling strong until that point and I was up for a good points finish. It’s frustrating that the car wasn’t reliable and we need to work harder to ensure we get more race finishes. It was a great result for David though, and it shows the car has potential, which is encouraging.”

Christian Horner

”It’s a fantastic result for the whole team here today. David’s driven well all weekend and was desperately unlucky in qualifying, but now he’s got the result he deserved. It was a great strategy from the team, when we decided to change from a two-stop to a one-stop race and David did really well. But, let’s not forget Christian in all this. He was looking really strong here and was very unfortunate to suffer a loss of drive in his car. We’re sure that, without that problem, he would have been right up there too today.”

“For everybody in the team, and by that I mean everyone in the company, who has worked so hard for this result, I would say this shows that perseverance pays off. We have got good things coming on the technical side and so let’s hope this fantastic result in Monaco is the start of a strong run through the remaining eleven races this season. Both drivers did a great job today, especially David. To get a podium after just 26 attempts is a great milestone for the team. Now we have to move on and move up the scoreboard in the Constructors’ Championship. This is the perfect way to be going into our home race at Silverstone in a fortnight’s time.”

The Monaco weekend is always party central, but sometimes the Sunday night celebrations in the motorhomes can be rather half-hearted affairs as teams lick their wounds. But for Red Bull Racing, the joy was heartfelt and real and the Energy Station staff who wore themselves out all weekend feeding what sometimes seemed like the entire population of the paddock, found a new lease of life after the race. In the post race press conference, our David revealed that Christian Horner had promised to jump naked into the harbour if one of his drivers ended up on he podium and our boss is a man of his word, so that’s exactly what he did, with the exception that he opted for doing his dive in the Energy Station swimming pool. However, to avoid getting arrested for indecency, he borrowed Superman’s cape that David had worn on the podium, while preparing for his plunge. David suggested Christian might my want "to give his 'wally' a good rub before he does it because if you are going to get photographed naked you want to look as favourable as possible."
After Christian, at least a dozen other team members also took the plunge, but with equipment to be packed away and trucks to be readied, festivities fizzled out so that work could start again. But only for a few hours prior to what promises to be a fun late night barbecue.