David Coulthard praised his Red Bull Racing team after a fire nearly ruined his Turkish GP practice.
Coulthard's car caught fire at the end of the first 90-minute session at the Istanbul Park circuit, forcing the 36-year-old Scot to pull over and allow marshals to douse the flames.
The blaze could have wrecked Coulthard's second session plans, in particular as he was faced with the unwanted possibility of using the spare car.
However, the Red Bull mechanics worked on the car in the two-and-a-half-hour gap between the sessions, and had Coulthard back on track early in the second.
"My car had a fuel leak and caught fire at the end of the morning session, so the team had to find the leak and change the engine," said Coulthard.
"The boys did a great job to get the car out again when they did as there was a lot of work to do. It was a good effort.
"Originally we were going to use the T car for the second session, but I wanted to stay with the race car.
"So we changed the engine instead, and once the car was ready, we got on with working through our normal Friday practice."
With the engine change taking place on a Friday, Coulthard will not suffer a 10-place grid penalty following Saturday's qualifying session.
