David Coulthard: A Tribute

With Sebastian Vettel confirmed yesterday (Thursday, July 17, 2008) at Red Bull to replace retiring Brit David Coulthard, it seems like we are already waving good bye to one of Formula One's finest men. A true gentleman and a passionate Scot, David Coulthard looks to the future outside of a carbon fibre monocock.

He competed in 238 grand prix (prior to the German Grand Prix) and won no less than 13, scoring 533 points along the way. He has been a permanent fixture in the F1 driver lineup for over 14 years and raced for three teams: Williams (test driver 93) '94-'96, McLaren '96-'05, and Red Bull '05-'08.

Now I'd like to take you through David Coulthard’s history in the sport and have a look at what he has achieved.

Name: David Marshall Coulthard (DC)

Born: March 27, 1971; Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland

DC, like most drivers, started his motor racing career karting at an early age, winning the Scottish Junior Kart Championship, Scottish Open Kart Championship, and British Super Kart 1 Championship.

He graduated to Formula Ford in 1989 where he won the Dunlop/Autosport FF1600 Championship, P&O Ferries Junior FF1600 Championship, and came third in the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch.

It was in that same year when DC won the McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award. This was the same award won by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, Gary Paffett, and rising star Oliver Turvey. 

In 1990 David competed in the Formula Vauxhall-Lotus Championship/GM Lotus Euroseries Championship. But in 1991 he moved into Formula Three, winning the famous Macau Grand Prix and Marlboro Masters of Formula Three, whilst coming second in the overall championship for that year.

From '92-'93 our Scot raced in the Formula 3000 championship, having a quiet first year in the series and finishing ninth in the championship. His second year was a little more fruitful and he finished third overall and won the GT class at the French 24-hour race at Le Mans. This year David Coulthard was announced as the official test driver for Williams Renault, and so his F1 career began.

David was promoted from test driver to race driver for William Renault in 1994, marking the beginning of a Formula One racing career that would span 14 years.

The reason for this promotion was due to the death of racing legend Ayrton Senna at Imola in the San Marino Grand Prix. He did not race the whole of the season, giving up the last three races to returning Nigel Mansell.

But it was in 1995 when Coulthard would get the drive for William Renault and not ex-champion Mansell. He would go on to win his first Formula One Grand Prix in Portugal and finish third in the championship with 43 points. This would be his last season with the Williams team, managing to get his first podium and first win in F1.

By the time 1996 came around the now Grand Prix winner David Coulthard was with Mika Hakkinen at McLaren. There his first season with the outfit was poor as the squad struggled to find pace, but he finished second behind Oliver Panis at Monaco.

He finished the season in seventh place with just 18 points to his name, a season in which Englishman Damon Hill recorded his only Formula One World championship with Williams Renault—the team winning 12 out of the 16 races that season.

1997 became the year DC would open his race wins score with McLaren, taking victory in Australia and Italy. He finished the season third on 36 points. Things were looking up.

When McLaren took the championship in ‘98, DC was basically used to supporting his teammate Mika Hakkinen when he won the drivers championship. Coulthard took one victory at the San Marino Grand Prix and finished with 56 points leaving him third in the championship.

Fourth place in the championship was all DC could manage in 1999, despite winning his home Grand Prix at Silverstone. He also won at the infamous Spa—he only had Monaco to complete the big four. His tally for the year was 48 points, but David looked strong and confident moving into the millennium.

Three wins would only take Coulthard to a bronze in the championship in 2000, and at this stage it was all he was able to achieve. But this year David completed the big four, adding Monaco to his list of wins, while taking the chequered at Silverstone and Magny Cours, ending up with a massive 73 points.

Now DC had taken victories at Silverstone, Monza, Monaco, and Spa—the big four were completed. All that was left was the WDC (World Drivers Championship).

2001 was the second year of the Schumacher reign, meaning that Coulthard missed out heavily in the drivers championship, scoring just over half of Schumacher’s tally of 123 points.

He beat his best efforts by finishing second to the German, who would be knocked off the top spot for another three years. His chances of winning a title in Formula One faded fast. Coulthard could muster just 65 points against the mighty scarlet bullets.

From 2002 to 2004 Coulthard struggled for pace against the current champion Kimi Raikkonen. Still, he won in Monaco for the second time in ’02 and capped off his wins in Australia a year later.

His finishing positions dropped by a factor of two each year. In 2002 he finished with 41 points in fifth; in 2003 he scored 41 points and ended up seventh; in 2004 he was in ninth with a mere 24 points. This was to be his last time with McLaren and his future in the sport looked shady at best.

Red Bull, the buyers of Jaguar, came to the rescue. DC signed to Red Bull as the No. 1 driver, to which he would partner a young Christian Klien.

DC helped develop the Red Bull car and team, having a pivotal role in signing star designer Adrian Newey. David Coulthard has only ever won in an Adrian Newey car, so things looked good for DC in the future.

David Coulthard has scored 59 points for Red Bull and helped turn them into a competitive team. This loyal Scot who spent nine years at McLaren and will hope to spend more at Red Bull has seen it all in Formula One, from the last death in the sport to some downright dirty tactics.

He has seen a young Brit win his first British Grand Prix and will see Formula One's first night race. The only thing keeping this tale just short of perfection is the missing trophy every driver strives to attain.