David Coulthard |
Official Website: Official Website
Place of Birth: Twynholm (Scotland)
Resides: Monte Carlo
Status: Single
Height: 1.82m
Weight: 75kg
Career previous to F1: 1989 British Formula Ford 1600 Champion
Races: 142
Wins: 13 (9.2%)
Podiums: 58 (40.8%)
Pole Positions: 12 (8.5%)
Retirements: 46 (32.4%)
Points Accumulated: 410.000
Debut: 29 May 1994
Last Race: 09 Mar 2003
First Win: 24 Sep 1995
Last Win: 09 Mar 2003
First Pole: 09 Apr 1995
Last Pole: 27 May 2001 |
View a complete listing of David Coulthard's Formula 1 results
Driver History
David Coulthard has often failed to translate his undoubted driving
abilities in to GP results. However, it has not always been his
fault, illustrated by events during the 1998 season.
The opening race in Melbourne proved controversial as Coulthard
pulled over to let team-mate Hakkinen through to win after a pre-race
agreement. The season was to follow as similar line as Coulthard
proved an able back-up to his team-mate as Hakkinen raced to the
title.
Coulthard made his F1 start in difficult circumstances in 1994,
thrust in to the F1 cauldron. He not only replaced the legendary
Ayrton Senna after his fatal crash at Imola, he was racing for the
dominant Williams team and was also forced to share the place with
the returning Nigel Mansell through much of the season. However,
he did creditably well when he was given the chance and was rewarded
with the permanent seat for the 1995 season.
His first full F1 season was solid if not spectacular, finishing
third in the Driver's Championship and notching up his first GP
win at Estoril, Portugal. In the off-season Coulthard moved to McLaren
but with a competitive car he struggled throughout the year, the
only a highlight a 2nd place in the famous Monaco race when only
three cars finished. As the McLaren team gradually became more competitive
so did Coulthard, breaking the McLaren GP win drought with a first
at Melbourne in 1997.
1999 was a difficult season for David, as he alternated between
impressing and infuriating his fans. At San Marino he seemed reluctant
to tackle back markers, whilst at Spa (a real driver's circuit),
he was magnificent. His move on Schumacher at Malaysia was one of
the bravest of the season.
Yet again things did not go exactly as planned in 2000, with things
getting off to a slow start. After surviving a plane crash at he
beginning of May, David seemed to have found a new lease of life,
finishing 2nd, 3rd and 1st in the following three races. Despite
this, his performance dropped off towards the end of the season,
and he was never a realistic title contender.
2001 marked a watershed in his driving partnership with Hakkinen
and for the first time, David looked like stepping out of the shadow
of Ron Dennis's favourite son, Mika Hakkinen. Unluckily for David,
just as he dealt with the challenge from his team-mate, Michael
Schumacher's Ferrari looked unbeatable.
David managed to buy a hotel - The Columbus in Monaco - and won
races in Brazil and Austria, but ultimately the McLaren fell a long
way short of the Ferrari's performance. DC managed to hang onto
second place in the Drivers' title with 65 points, but that's all
he was doing. Hanging on.
2002 was just like 2001, only worse. Not only were Ferrari even
further ahead, McLaren were under-powered, Williams were invariably
in front of them on the grid and they were unused to Michelin tyres.
Added to that, team-mate Kimi Raikkonen turned out to have the performance
of the pre-2001 Hakkinen.
DC resisted pressure from Montoya and Schumacher to score a memorable
win at Monaco, one of only two non-Ferrari wins in the season. He
scored 41 points and ended up 5th, but it was a disappointing and
frustrating year which saw the cool Scot entering verbal jousts
with both Montoya and Irvine.
|
