Two-time British Grand Prix winner David Coulthard knows he is already "on the back foot" heading into this weekend's race at Silverstone.
Coulthard's unfortunate season continued at the Northamptonshire circuit last Thursday during testing when he was involved in an accident with Toyota's Timo Glock.
Appreciating the incident was his fault, Glock later apologised, however it led to Coulthard unable to drive his Red Bull for several hours.
When the Scot did return to the track very late in the day, he then suffered a mechanical problem as smoke was seen emerging from the back of the car.
It was just the latest issue to blight the 37-year-old's year as he has managed to finish in the points only once all season when he claimed third in Canada.
"The first half of the season has been a mixed bag for the team, mainly through my results as Mark (Webber) has had his best season to date," said Coulthard.
"I had a couple of wobbles in qualifying earlier in the year, and that resulted in being on the wrong piece of race track at the wrong time and getting involved in incidents.
"The only weekend where I had an incident all by myself was in Monaco, but that was off the back of having no running on the Thursday because of reliability issues.
"Without trying to give the impression of 'poor me' making excuses, I've definitely had the non-Red Bull end of the stick.
"But on the positive side, I've been in the top 10 several times and I've had a podium finish in Canada.
"There have also been three ninth-place finishes, which doesn't sound very sexy.
"But in all those races I was less than 10 seconds away from seventh, which shows just how competitive it is in that midfield.
"I am genuinely optimistic for the second half of the year, but it's going to be incredibly tight with Toyota, Renault and Williams.
"Having said that, my one day of testing at Silverstone did not go too well, so my preparation for the British Grand Prix has definitely been hampered.
"Because of the high speed nature of the track, it helps to get your eye in by doing plenty of laps.
"We're on the back foot, but the team has the strength to bounce back and have a good weekend."
Appreciating the difficulties of Coulthard's season, team boss Christian Horner said: "Things had not gone David's way until Montreal.
"He has qualified in the top 10 in 50% of the races, but he's come home with three ninth-place finishes which is the most frustrating position just outside the points.
"The Montreal podium was the highlight for both him and the team so far this year.
"With half the season still to go, it is imperative we maintain our reliability and continue to develop the car at each race in order to achieve our target of fourth in the constructors' championship."
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