Early exit for Coulthard again.

Red Bull Racing find both of their cars starting from the lower end of the grid for the Brazilian Grand Prix after David Coulthard failed to reach the second stage of qualifying and Robert Doornbos copped a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change.

Having struggled for much of the weekend already, Coulthard compounded his set-up woes by failing to get close to the top sixteen spot required to make it through to the first session, eventually ending the session as the 19th fastest driver.

Having blasted the team for their failure to develop as the season has progressed in Japan when he also failed to make the second knockout stage, Coulthard blamed poor balance as the reason for his early exit. The Scot is still chasing a final flurry though, pointing out he has won points from further back on the grid before.

"The balance of the car was the same as it had been this morning - and wasn't very good. On this type of track you need entrance stability in order to carry speed into the turns and just haven't been able to find it. I've scored points from the back of the grid before and it's not over until the chequered flag, but clearly this makes it a lot more difficult to get a good result."

Nonetheless, it still made him last of the four Red Bull backed cars, including team-mate Robert Doornbos, the Dutchman comprehensively outpacing Coulthard to make it into the second stage of qualifying.

However, his hopes of a strong qualifying position were already over having had his Ferrari engine changed prior to qualifying, meaning his 15th fastest time leaves him 22nd on the grid. Still, Doornbos, who is making his final appearance in the Red Bull race seat this weekend, claims he had plenty of fun competing with the pressure off.

"We really wanted to attack in the last qualifying session of the year and I think we did that," the Dutchman said. "The sessions are a lot of fun - you can really drive on the limit and get the maximum out of the car. I think I got the maximum out of the car today. We've gone through tomorrow's race in our minds set-up wise, and we're going to be pushing hard."