David Coulthard
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David Coulthard (born March 27, 1971 in Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire) is a formula one race car driver for the Red Bull Racing formula one team. Coulthard is one of the veterans in the field of F1 racing, with his first ever race taking place over a decade ago. Like almost everyone in the sport, he also began his career with go-karts before becoming one of the winningest active racers with 13 Grand Prix victories tucked under his belt.
Although not considered to be one of the fastest behind the wheel, Coulthard has always been one of the more efficient and consistent drivers who is not flashy but always finds a way to win and keep himself out of trouble on the track.
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Personal Life
David Marshall, also known as DC or Budgie, was born in Cresswell Maternity Hospital, Dumfries in Twynholm, Scotland to parents Duncan and Joyce Coulthard. David came from a place that produced world class drivers, including the 1961 US Grand Prix winner Innes Ireland (first Scot to win a GP), two-time world champion Jim Clark, and three-time world champion Jackie Stewart. He attended Twynholm Primary School from 1976 to 1983 and at Kirkcudbright Academy from 1983 to 1986 where he achieved 8 O-Levels, 1 Higher and 6 Detentions. His second cousin Fabian Coulthard, a New Zealander, is also a racing driver. David lives in Monte Carlo, Monaco and also has houses in London and Switzerland. DC owns luxury hotels in Britain and Monaco, including the Columbus, which is located in Monaco's Fontvieille.
As safe as he is on the race track, David was still not spared from accidents during his career after he got involved in a nearly fatal plane crash in 2000. David, his then girlfriend Heidi Wichlinski (an American model), and personal trainer/bodyguard Andy Matthews was able to survive while the pilot and co-pilot were not so lucky. DC also injured his ribs during that accident.
Throughout his career, David has reportedly been involved with several of the most glamorous women. Names include Heidi Klum and Lady Victoria Hervey, both supermodels, and Andrea Murray and Ruth Taylor, also both models. After failed engagements to models Heidi Wichlinski and Simone Abdelnour, David has now been engaged to Belgian F1 correspondent Karen Minier of French TV channel TF1. They have been engaged since the 2nd of June, 2006 and are planning to marry in the near future.
David's sister set up a museum at his home village for his fans and supporters to visit. It still continues to run but is now been taken over independently by a local fan named Wendy McKenzie. The museum is also used by the "Twynosi" (combination of Twynholm and Italian Ferrari fans the Tifosi) as a place for gathering everytime DC races.
David, who has released an autobiography entitled "It is What It Is" on the 7th of August, 2007, has a distinctive helmet design painted by Stranraer karter Brian Smith as a means to thank David's father for his sponsorship in karting. David's favorite past times are yachting, cycling, and watching movies, his favorite artists are The Corrs, Queen, Phil Collins, The Cranberries, and Oasis, while his favorite meals are Italian and Thai (pasta and vegetables).
Career
Early Career
Like most successful formula one drivers, Coulthard began his motorsporting career at a young age. At the age of 12, he snagged the Scottish Junior Kart Championship and successfully defended it for two straight years. At 15, he won both the Scottish Open Kart and the British Super Kart 1 titles, then defended them successfully the following year while bagging the Scottish Open Kart Championship for a third time in 1988. He moved to Formula Ford in 1989 and won the Dunlop/Autosport FF1600 Championship, and the P&O Ferries Junior FF1600 Series. His efforts also garnered him the McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award. In 1990, Coulthard participated in the Formula Vauxhall-Lotus Championship where he finished fourth, took home the 5th place in the GM Lotus Euroseries Championship, but broke his leg while racing at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
He was able to recover in time for the British Formula 3 Championship, even managing to place 2nd in the Euro-Macau-Fuji Formula 3, 1st in the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3, 1st in the Formula 3 Macau GP, and 2nd overall in the British F3 Championship. In 1992, he stepped into Formula 300 racing and ended up 8th in the Euro-Macau-Fuji Formula 3 and 9th overall in the Formula 300 Championship. He competed another year in F3000 and improved his previous placing with a third place finish, coupled with a win at the GT Class at the Le Mans 24 Hours where he finished 15th overall.
Entry to F1 (1994)
While competing in Formula 3000 in 1993, Coulthard was hired to test drive for the dominant Williams-Renault team but was thrust into the team's main roster status in very dificult circumstances. With the death of Ayrton Senna in an accident at the San Marino Grand Prix on May 1, 1994, Coulthard was promoted by the team to take Senna's place and team up with Damon Hill at the Spanish Grand Prix. Coulthard was able to take advantage with the opportunity he was given, competing in 12 races with 1 podium place and a total of 14 points to place 8th in the Drivers' Championship. Coulthard could have done better and contributed more for the team but had to give way to then reigning Indycar champion Nigel Mansell in several occassions after Williams, who wanted a big name racer for their second car, hired him that season.
Williams (1995)
After doing pretty well in his debut, Williams stuck with Coulthard over Mansell to race for the team permanently. He produced a pretty solid run for the team that year, starting the season with a podium on a 2nd place finish in Brazil and went on to earn six more podiums and bag his first ever win at the 1995 Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril. Coulthard would've won several more races but bad luck and costly mistakes prevented him from doing so, instead settling for a 3rd overall finish in the Drivers' Championship with 49 points.
McLaren (1996-2004)
Coulthard would change teams in 1996, aligning with the McLaren team with Mika Häkkinen as his teammate. He started the year with two retirements but almost managed to win one in Monaco, eventually settling for a runner-up finish after losing his lead to Olivier Panis. He finished his maiden year at McLaren with a couple of podium finishes and eight points in the Drivers' Championship which was only good for a 7th place finish. He bounced back the following year, topping the season-opener in Australia but was retired a total of seven times. He managed to win again in Italy and would've added one more at Jerez had not he been ordered by the team to give the win up for teammate Häkkinen. Nonetheless, he was able to register two podium finishes and ended the year with 36 points, good for a tie for 3rd with Jean Alesi after Michael Schumacher was disqualified. 1998 was a better year for Team McLaren as Coulthard finished the season with 8 podiums, and a San Marino win, placing behind world champion Häkkinen with 56 points and a third place finish for the second straight year. In 1999, luck was not on Coulthard's side as he equalled the most number of retirements he had since joining team McLaren with seven. But despite "under-performing" that year, Coulthard was still able to compile four podium finishes and won a couple of races (Great Britain and Belgium) to end the season fourth in the Drivers' championship worth 48 points with his team relinquishing its title to Ferrari.
Bad luck seemed to continue in 2000 as Coulthard struggled in his first two races, getting retired in Australia before falling due to disqualification in Brazil. He was able to bounce back with a podium finish at San Marino and a win in the 2000 British Grand Prix. After the plane accident, Coulthard finished 2nd in Spain, 3rd in Europe, and his second win Monaco. Another win in France would eventually put him in contention for the drivers' championship with Schumacher and Häkkinen but eventually settled for another 3rd place finish with 73 points. At the start of 2001, it seemed like Coulthard was ready to step out of the supporting role and overcome teammate Häkkinen with first place finishes in Brazil and Austria. However, team Ferrari's Schumacher looked invinsible on the track and Coulthard would eventually bow down in a lopsided fashion, losing the drivers' title to the tune of 123 to 65 and settling for his career best finish of 2nd place. Ferrari's dominance would spill through the ensuing year with Rubens Barrichello and Schumacher winning all but two races in the 2002 season. Coulthard bagged one of those two wins, outperforming Juan Pablo Montoya and Schumacher to place first in Monaco and end the season behind the two Ferrari and two BMW-Williams teams with 41 points, 17 points better than his up-and-coming teammate Kimi Räikkönen, in the world championship race.
Coulthard opened 2003 strongly with a first place finish in Australia but would soon fade away into the shadow of his teammate Räikkönen after managing only a couple of podium finishes the rest of the way. At the end of the season, Räikkönen ended up in second place, just two points behind Schumacher while Coulthard was at a distant 7th place with 51 points. DC openly criticized the single-lap qualifying format that was implemented in 2003 by the FIA, which many believed started the British's decline in the title race. The trend continued in 2004 with Coulthard continuing to play second-fiddle to his younger teammate, and add up to that, the team had already announced the entry of Montoya to McLaren for the 2005 season, giving Coulthard 18 races to prove his team wrong and at the same time pad up his resume. Unfortunately, DC only managed a 10th place finish worth 24 points, without any wins nor podiums, raising questions on whether Coulthard still had it to compete in F1 level. In his 9 year career at McLaren, Coulthard has produced 12 wins and 52 podium places with 412 points in 146 race starts.
Red Bull (2005-Present)
Just when it seemed that Coulthard's career was history, the Red Bull Racing team would breathe life on it, pairing the veteran with the youthful pair of Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi. In his first season at Red Bull, Coulthard was not able to produce any podiums or wins, but still managed to score in nine of the total 19 races to finish the season in 12th place with 24 points. RB seemed to like what DC brought to the team as he was given a contract extension even before the season ended to stay with the team for atleast another year.
The Red Bull team had high hopes for 2006, with Coulthard's renewed enthusiasm, the acquisition of design guru Adrian Newey in February, and the use of Ferrari engines that season. But the team decided to focus its attention in designing the 2007 car, slowing down and eventually halting the development of the 2006 car. The decision seemed to have affected RB's performance that year as Coulthard only managed to place as high as third and scoring in only five occassions for a grand total of 14 by the end of the year which was only good for 13th place. Then-teammate Robert Doornbos, a Dutch race driver, did not even manage to score a point leading to a dismal finish for Team Red Bull. The team however still was optimistic about its chances with Coulthard around and so the team extended DC's stay for another year. DC reached some milestones and recorded several feats in 2006. He became the 8th member of F1's "200 Club" at the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix alongside Riccardo Patrese, Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Gerhard Berger, Andrea de Cesaris, Nelson Piquet and Jean Alesi as the only drivers to have competed in 200 Grands Prix. He also scored Red Bull's first podium finish at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, which also was his first podium with the team.
For 2007, Red Bull paired Coulthard with Australian racer Mark Webber who came from the Williams squad. Despite racing on the new vehicle, the RS27 powered by a Renault Engine, DC still had a slow start with three consecutive retirements in Australia, Malaysia, and Bahrain to open up the season. He scored the team's first points in Spain after a 5th place finish before either finishing outside the top 10 or getting retired in the next five races. He scored in three more occassions with his 5th place finish in the 2007 European Grand Prix, 4th in the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, and 8th in the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix to end the season with 14 points and a 10th place finish in the drivers' championship.
Coulthard has yet to regain the winning form he had in his previous stints at Williams and McLaren, but Red Bull's confidence in the grizzled veteran has not wavered after the team extended his contract for another year.
Results and Records
Career Summary
Complete Formula One Results
References
- David Coulthard PlanetF1.com Profile
- David Coulthard Red Bull Racing Profile
- David Coulthard Wikipedia
- David Coulthard: Last of the Gentleman Drivers
