David Coulthard's season of woe has continued after he once more suffered collisions on his way to a miserable 12th place in Spain.
Veteran Scot has another eventful outing
David Coulthard's season of woe has continued after the Scot once more suffered collisions on his way to a miserable 12-place finish in the Spanish Grand Prix.
The 37-year-old was also fined €4,000 for missing the drivers' parade prior to Sunday's race at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.
The Red Bull driver has endured a miserable campaign to date, becoming embroiled in accidents with Felipe Massa and Jenson Button in Australia and Bahrain respectively.
For the second successive race, Coulthard also struggled during qualifying and, after starting a lowly 17th, made contact with Force India's Adrian Sutil on the opening lap.
Aided by a number of retirements, Coulthard was closing in on a potential points finish when he was shunted again.
Toyota's Timo Glock was at fault on this occasion as, attempting to pass Coulthard, the rookie German instead ran into the Red Bull's left-rear tyre, causing a puncture.
Relegated
Limping back to the pits for a new tyre, Coulthard was then relegated to the back of the field, from where he failed to make real headway.
Coulthard, who has yet to score a point this season, said: "It's a horrible thing about being down near the end of the grid - you try to keep out of trouble, but it's never so easy.
"I got whacked by Sutil going into turn four and picked up some light damage to the side of the car, but after that I was running okay.
"After my pit stop, I then took a defensive line into turn four and five to show Glock I knew he was there, but he hit the rear of my car and punctured a tyre."
Team boss Christian Horner is convinced the tide will turn for Coulthard, adding: "For David, the nightmare of yesterday's qualifying session continued.
"It looked as though he might be able to pick up a couple of points at one stage in the race, but unfortunately things just didn't go his way.
"But I'm sure his luck will change soon."
Mixed fortunes
Coulthard's fortunes were in contrast to those of team-mate Mark Webber, who finished fifth.
The Australian thus collected points for the third successive race to give him eight - a total which places him eighth in the drivers' standings.
