Mateschitz: Coulthard will lead Red Bull.

David Coulthard will lead the Red Bull Racing team next season, according to quotes attributed to new owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

Although the team has yet to issue official confirmation of a deal with the Scottish driver, Mateschitz appears to have been won around to the idea of the experienced Coulthard playing a part in RBR's first full Formula One season.

The Austrian, who has made Red Bull a household name around the world and purchased the ailing Jaguar racing team last month in order to fulfil his ambition of running an entry in F1, initially said that Coulthard would not be considered as part of the driving line-up, but the realisation that his alternative options were all far less experienced eventually saw the Scot installed for last week's test at Jerez - where he immediately out-paced 2004 Jaguar rookie Christian Klien and F3000 champion Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Quotes in the Austrian press now appear to confirm that Coulthard will be unveiled as the team's first signing for 2005, where he will be partnered by either Klien or Liuzzi.

"Coulthard is quick," Mateschitz conceded to Neue Kronen Zeitung, "If someone has won 13 grands prix and also has some personality, need we discuss any more?"

Mateschitz was also quick to confirm that Coulthard would be racing for the team, which would be only his third since joining the F1 circus as replacement for the late Ayrton Senna in 1994..

"If we were only thinking of him as a test driver, we would not have bothered testing him last week," the Austrian insisted.

Interestingly, the new team owner would not be drawn on the identity of Coulthard's likely team-mate - and even suggested that he might be prepared to let the two young pretenders share the second car alongside the Scot.

Despite his relative inexperience, even compared to his Austrian rival, Liuzzi has frequently matched Klien's pace in testing, and has attracted admiring glances from other garages too. The Italian tested briefly with Sauber at the end of the 2004 season, but lost out to Jacques Villeneuve in the race for the team's second seat, and his recent performances have apparently reawakened interest at Williams, which gave him his first F1 outing a couple of years ago. A testing role is all that Liuzzi could hope for at Grove, however, and Mateschitz latest suggestion may be enough to keep his prot?g? on board for 2005.