Template:Driver David Coulthard, commonly referred to as DC was born on March 27th 1971 in Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. He is currently retired but acting as an advisor to Red Bull Racing.
Pre-Formula 1
Coulthard started Karting at the age of 11 winning the Scottish Championships three times before moving onto Formula Ford 1600 in 1989. His first year in the formula resulted in wins in the Dunlop/Autosport Championship and P&O Ferries Junior series as well as a third place finish in the Formula Ford Festival.
The following season he took part in the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries (finishing fifth) and the Formula Vauxhall Lotus (finishing fourth) along with a cameo appearance in the British Touring Car Championship. 1990 also saw Coulthard win the inaugural McLaren-Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award earning him a test in a McLaren F1 car.
1991 saw DC make the step up to British Formula Three with Paul Stewart Racing, the team run by Stewart Grand Prix co-founder and son of three time F1 Champion Jackie Stewart. He finished second overall. He also won the Macau Grand Prix and Masters of Formula Three and finished second in the Formula Three Fuji Cup.
Coulthard moved onto International Formula 3000 in 1992, again racing for Paul Stewart. He finished ninth overall. He again competed International Formula 3000 in 1993, this time with Pacific Racing. He improved to finish third overall behind future F1 drivers Olivier Panis and Pedro Lamy. He competed one final International Formula 3000 for Vortex Motorsport before making the step up to F1.
Formula 1
Williams (1993-95)
Coulthard's first taste of F1 came in 1993 when he became test driver for the Williams team. His promotion to a full driver's position came under difficult circumstances after the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola. He partned fellow Brit Damon Hill for much of the remainder of the season but stepped aside on four occasions to make way for Nigel Mansell as Williams wanted a big name driver to take Senna's place.
He remained with the team for the 1995 season this time given an entire season to make an impact. He finished third behind team-mate Hill and the World Champion, Bennetton's Michael Schumacher winning his first Grand Prix in Portugal.
McLaren (1996-2004)
He joined the McLaren team in 1996 but struggled due to a poor Mercedes engine. 1997 proved to be a big improvement with Coulthard taking wins in Australia and Italy. At the season conclusion in Jerez, he was told to move over and allow team-mate Mika Häkkinen to pass. Häkkinen went on to win the race. He finished third overall after Michael Schumacher was disqualified from the Championship.
Coulthard was again told to play team orders to allow Häkkinen a win at the 1998 season opener in Australia. Häkkinen entered the pits unexpectedly after someone hacked into the McLaren radio frequency and told him to pit on lap 36. McLaren's use of team orders was heavily criticised. Coulthard won just once in 1998 at Imola as he again finished third in the Championship. Häkkinen won the Drivers Championship and McLaren took the Constructor's Championship.
1999 saw Häkkinen become a double World Champion, but McLaren lost the Constructor's Championship to Ferrari. Coulthard could only manage fourth in the Championship but picked up his first home Grand Prix win at Silverstone along with a win in Belgium. There was an embarrassing moment in Austria as he collided with team-mate Häkkinen on the first lap.
The first season of the new millennium saw Coulthard was involved in a tight battle for the Championship with team-mate Häkkinen and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher but after picking up three wins from the first nine Grand Prix, including another home win, the season was dominated by his title rivals with Schumacher going on to take the title. The season almost ended before it really started for Coulthard when he was involved in a plane crash in May.
2001 was Coulthard's highest finish to a Formula 1 season, but he picked up barely over half the amount of points that eventual winner Michael Schumacher did. Wins in Brazil and Austria were the highlights. His McLaren career began to decline from 2002. He failed to make any meaningful impact on a championship again dominated by Michael Schumacher, who finished on the podium at every Grand Prix. He did take a win in Monaco however.
2003 was again disappointing for DC who was outperformed regularly by inexperienced team-mate Kimi Räikkönen. He took his final F1 Grand Prix win at the season open in 2003. 2004 was to prove Coulthard's last season with McLaren after failing to perform again. His highest finish was fourth in Germany as he came a miserable 10th overall, join with Ralf Schumacher who spent six Grand Prix out injured. He was replaced by Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya.
Red Bull Racing (2005-2008)
He joined the newly formed Red Bull Racing team in 2005. His performances improved and he came close to scoring a podium finish on a number of occasions as Red Bull exceeded most expectations, finishing seventh overall beating established teams Sauber, Jordan and Minardi.
2006 saw some more decent performances, the highlight of which was Red Bull's first podium in Monaco. 2007 was much the same with Red Bull finishing fifth in the Constructor's Championship, albeit partly due to McLaren's exclusion.
2008 started badly for DC after a collision with Ferrari's Felipe Massa in Australia. Coulthard was unhappy that the Brazilian refused to accept responsibility for the incident. He told the Sun newspaper.
- "I know I screwed up the same way with Alex last year, and took full responsibility for it, and I would expect Felipe to do the same. If he doesn't, I'm going to kick three colours of s*** out of the little bastard"
The season was mostly disappointing for Coulthard. Apart from a podium in Canada and seventh in Singapore, he failed to score points at all. He announced his retirement after the season a few days before the British Grand Prix. His final Grand Prix in Brazil ended on the first lap after a collision with Nico Rosberg.
While he will not compete in any races, Coulthard will remain with the Red Bull team as a consultant and is rumoured to be part of the BBC commentary team for the new season.
Complete Results
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Personal Life
David lives in Monaco mainly due to it's tax haven status. He does also own homes in London, Belgium and Switzerland along with several hotels in Britain and Monaco.
His life was nearly cut short on May 2nd 2000. Whilst flying in a Learjet owned by Rangers FC chairman David Murray, the aircraft developed engine problems on the way to Côte d'Azur International Airport in Nice. The pilot attempted an emergency landing at Lyon-Satolas airport but was unsuccessful. Both the pilot David Saunders and co-pilot Dan Worley were killed. Coulthard, then girlfriend Heidi Wichlinski and his personal trainer Andy Matthews all survived.
David was often labelled as a playboy and was regularly rumoured to be dating a number of women. He got engaged to Karen Minier, an F1 reporter for TF1 in France in June 2006 and they are expecting their first child, a boy, in December 2008.
Template:2008 teams and drivers