Red Bull eye F1 podiums

Formula One newcomers Red Bull are aiming for a top three finish this season after Briton David Coulthard came close on the team's stunning debut in Australia.

Formula One newcomers Red Bull are aiming for a top three finish this season after Briton David Coulthard came close on the team's stunning debut in Australia.

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"Your target shifts and I think that target now has to be a podium," said team boss Christian Horner after Coulthard finished fourth and Austrian Christian Klien seventh in Sunday's season-opening race.

"It gives us a real solid platform from which to move forward," added Horner. "We've achieved our initial target of credibility and its now building from that."

Coulthard, rejected by McLaren at the end of last season and widely written off as yesterday's man on the fast track to retirement before Red Bull stepped in, showed he still had what it takes.

The 33-year-old Scot dived inside Australian Mark Webber's Williams at the first corner to seize third place from fifth on the grid and then ran second once Italian Jarno Trulli's Toyota faded.

"On the one hand it's a great result for the team but on the other side it was possible to be on the podium," said Coulthard. "It was a missed opportunity in one respect.

"Being on the podium would have been as fine as a victory, that would have been fantastic, a dream ticket.

"But this won't be the last time we are scoring points this year... Red Bull are definitely going to score points a lot of the time this year."

Horner, who took over in January after the previous Jaguar management was shown the door by the Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz who bought the team from Ford, was delighted.

"David is a great racer, he's got great instinct. He took the opportunity and was aggressive at the start and then was able to run with the leaders, doing the times," he said.

"We were running in a podium position for 75 percent of the race and to come home fourth and seventh on our debut is a fantastic result for the team."

Although shrewd observers such as Ferrari's seven times world champion Michael Schumacher and team owner Frank Williams had tipped Red Bull as a likely surprise package, the team had played down their chances.

Coulthard, winner of 13 races with Williams and McLaren, said Red Bull had been unsure of their true potential.

"In winter testing we had some good runs but I kept thinking, well, maybe others are just being conservative on what they've been doing on fuel and what have you," he said.

"I knew that the car basically felt an improvement over the Jaguar so it was a question of bringing that to the track and I think (engine partner) Cosworth have done a good job.

"Power-wise I don't expect we're the best but we're certainly not embarrassing ourselves with the horsepower we have," he added.