Red Bull happy over cooling problems

Red Bull Racing believe they have solved the cooling problem which has hindered testing of their new Ferrari-powered car.

The Milton Keynes-based team have suffered overheating problems since their first test with the 2006 car, at one stage forcing mechanics to cut holes in the bodywork to cool the engine.

Testing has continued relentlessly with Red Bull having to limit the number of laps done by drivers David Coulthard, Christian Klien and Robert Doornbos.

However, technical director Mark Smith is confident he has got to the bottom of the problems and expects a fix in time for the first race of the season, under the scorching desert sun in Bahrain.

He said: “We’ve had to deal with a cooling issue and, over the past couple of weeks, have made the best possible use of the car in its current configuration.

“This doesn’t have the cooling elements in place that we will have on the aero kit that will be used at the first race.

“We will be testing the new elements at the forthcoming Valencia test later this month.

“We’re still working hard on detailing all of the issues that led to the cooling deficit and there is still some work to do.

“But the timescale means we had to move on applying a solution and our analysis indicates we have solved the problem.”