David Marshall Coulthard, a well-known Scottish ex - Formula 1 racer, radio host, television broadcaster and journalist.
Childhood and youth
The famous David Coulthard was born March 27, 1971 in the city of Twinholm, Scotland and was one of three children in the family of Duncan Coulthard and Elizabeth Joyce Coulthard, nee Marshall. His grandfather participated in the Monte Carlo Rally, and his father was the Scottish Karting Champion. From childhood, his idols were Jim Clark, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost.
Coulthard began karting when his father gave him the first card of his eleventh birthday. David has won several local karting championships, including the Scottish Championship in the junior series. At the age of 17, he moved to Milton Keynes in England to be closer to the British sports center. Climbing the corporate ladder, he began with the Formula Ford 1600 racing series and the Vauxhall Lotus formula.
In 1991, Coulthard signed a contract with Paul Stuart and became a pilot in the British Formula 3, in the first season he won five victories and took second place in the championship behind Rubens Barrichello.
In 1992, he moved to the “Formula 3000”, but because of technical problems he took ninth place in the championship.
In 1993, Coulthard joined the Pacific Championship and having gained only one victory, he was able to still take third place in the series.
In 1996, he became a prize racer of the legendary Formula 1 McLaren-Mercedes team and a team mate for the future two-time world champion Miki Heikinen. The duo of these pilots to this day holds a record for the duration of cooperation in the history of F1.
Formula One
Williams (1994-95)
During 1993 and 1994, Coulthard worked on the Williams team as an official test pilot. But after the death of Ayrton Senna in May 1994, he was behind the wheel of a prize car.
McLaren (1996-2004)
In 1996, Coulthard signed a contract with the legendary McLaren team and became the partner of the future two-time world champion Miki Hakkinen.
In 1997, David again became Mickey's partner at McLaren. He began his season by winning the first leg in Australia. And at the end of the season he took third place in the Pilot Championship.
In 1998, Coulthard remained to play for Maclaren paired with the Finnish racer.
Coulthard stayed with McLaren in 1999 and took fourth place in the pilot championship.
In 2000, Coulthard reorganized his schedule for the season, focusing on racing and spending less time on advertising campaigns. Many motor sport critics and journalists have named 2000 the year of Coulthard. At the end of the season, he again rose to third place in the championship pilots.
The year 2001 began with a statement by McLaren team leader Ron Dennis about the prospects for the new season: “David is really on fire. He is strong and wants to achieve as much as possible. I honestly feel that David can win the world championship this year.” But in the end, he lost to Michael Schumacher 58 points and became the second in the Championship.
The 2002 season was the first in which Coulthard was number one on his team. But this year was the beginning of the end of David’s career as a pilot, he could only take fifth place in the championship.
In 2003, despite his experience, during the whole season he was inferior to his partner Kimi Raikkonen both in qualification and in races.
2004 was the last year of collaboration between Coulthard and McLaren. David finished tenth in the pilot championship.
Red Bull (2005-2008)
After the Red Bull bought the Jaguar team, Coulthard announced on December 17, 2004 that he was leaving McLaren to move to the Red Bull for the 2005 season. He signed a one-year contract for £ 1.8 million. Coulthard was offered the role of a test pilot at Ferrari, but he refused, as he decided to remain a prize pilot.
Coulthard stayed with Red Bull in 2006 and ended the season by taking 13th place in the pilot championship with 14 points, and Red Bull finished seventh in the Design Cup.
The Scottish racer continued to work with Red Bull in 2007. The Scot secured himself the tenth position in the championship of pilots, having an asset of 14 points.
And in 2008, before the British Grand Prix, he announced that he would leave Formula 1 at the end of the season, although he would remain at Red Bull as a testing and development consultant.
Life after the race
On November 25, 2008, it was announced that Coulthard would join the BBC as an expert along with Jake Humphrey and Eddie Jordan to cover Formula One. Following the departure of commentator Jonathan Legard at the end of 2010, Coulthard was declared as co-commentator by Martin Brandle. He also leads a regular column at the Daily Telegraph and BBC Sport.
In 2016, Coulthard left the BBC and tripled on Channel 4 after the BBC refused to cover the royal races. With Channel 4, he continued to comment and cover the events of Formula 1.
On October 10, 2018, Coulthard was announced as a representative and advisory board member in the W Series, a women's racing championship.
