BARCELONA -- Some swift McLaren research helped David Coulthard keep on track for his second podium finish of the Formula One season on Sunday.

The Scot's Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen suffered a sudden rear wing failure while running in fourth place and McLaren had to make a quick decision on the risk to Coulthard.

The incident appeared similar to one in the morning warm-up that led to Minardi boss Paul Stoddart withdrawing his cars from the race on safety grounds.

But McLaren said it took only seconds for them to decide that it was safe for Coulthard, who eventually finished third, to continue.

"Within less than a minute we were able to interrogate our database and confirm that the wing assembly on David's car was effectively new which, supported by our extensive test mileage, convinced us that there was no risk to David," said team boss Ron Dennis.

Stoddart said the incident had looked very similar to that suffered by Australian Mark Webber.

"It did look very similar to our's on the TV, but until you actually see the bits and pieces and really know the facts, it's wrong to judge," he said.

"If it had been me, yes I would have pulled the other car in as a precautionary measure.

"But they've been around in this business for a long, long time and I don't think they'd leave it out there otherwise."