David Coulthard

How come this man doesn't have his own thread yet?

DC is a true Gentleman and a credit to the sport we love. If it wasn't for him pushing for Safety in the 90's and 00's and even now when he's retired, we would have seen more deaths in F1 after the very sad weekend in San Marino back in 1994.

DC was always the nearly man when it came to his F1 career piped to the title on more than one occassion by either Hakkinen and Schumacher. I wouldn't say DC was a number 2 either in his career.

DC in his 247 Grand prix starts scored 13 wins, 62 podiums, 535 points, 12 poles and 18 fastest laps. DC at this current time is the all time points record holder for a Britain in F1. Can Hamilton or Button break his points tally of 535?

DC has only raced for 3 times in F1 and all are British based: Coulthard drove for Williams back in 1994 and 95, moved to Mclaren in 1996 and stayed until 2004 and went on to finish his career at Red Bull between 2005 and 2008.

Coulthards entry to F1 was under pretty awful circuimstances he was the driver that replaced Senna after that horrible San Marino GP in 1994. But in his time in F1 his teammates have been Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen, Kimi Raikkonen, Christain Klien, Liuzzi and Mark Webber.

In 2008 after a 14 year stay in F1 DC decided to hang up his driving gloves and ended his F1 career on the first lap of the Brazilian GP.

Over to you guys to debate about DC then!

 

[Jos the Boss]

I'll post a video of him on the dance-floor getting out-danced by my mate in Amber Lounge at Monaco later on. I don't have it to hand at the moment.

Still waiting for this!

 

[Bus Stop Chicane]

Never rated him. Nice guy, quick enough to be in F1 but only at the top because of the car. In my mind he was like a slower Webber, made to look better than he was by a quick car. His inability to get past the first corner became something of an embarrassment.

Not this rubbish again.

Name me a driver who isn't at the top because of this car? And besides do you think McLaren would have signed him if he was so mediocre?

You'd think Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were the only two drivers in F1 history who could win a race with a car that isn't at the top. If that's the case then why hasn't Alonso won a title since 2006 and why has Hamilton only won 1. Because the hype for both of them isn't as justified as people like to make out.

Coulthard did a good job at McLaren apart from his last season there when he was pretty shocking by his own standards. He's certainly not the flop he's made out to be on here.

 

[Il_leone]

Mezzer Bus Stop Chicane

Defining moments of DC's career at MClaren

When a) He was asked to pull over at Jerex by Ron to give the win to Mika Hakkinen in 1997 otherwise he would have had 3 victories to Mika's nil !

b) WHen he gentlemanly pulled over for Hakkinen out of a pre race agreement because he was a man of honour - it was the beginning of Hakkinen's dominance over him

Often overlooked is DC did beat Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen as teammates

Problem was he was seen as the NO 2 driver and never quite No1 and Ron Dennis' attitude towards him compared to Hakkinen did not help

 

[Il_leone]

Dc was responsible for ending Juan Montoya's short F1 career by blocking him signing for Red Bull as his teammate

 

[Il_leone]

Mezzer
At least DC had the satisfaction that he took on Michael Schumacher and beat him on his day when he did

France 200
Brazil 2001
MOnaco 2002

 

[Mezzer]

Bus Stop Chicane Il_leone Wow, replies to an over-year-old post, I'm flattered. I'm not saying he didn't have his moments, he just never particularly impressed me on anything like a consistent basis. That's my opinion and, with respect, I'll keep it just as it is.

 

[Slyboogy]

I think it all came down to 1997 Jerez and1998 Melbourne, should have backed out of the agreement, got to be ruthless.

 

[Mephistopheles]

There are only two reasons to be a number two driver and they are, either you are not good enough or you just want to be in F1 for the sake of it DC filled both these categories....

And before anyone gets offended by my statement DC himself acknowledge that he was not good enough, but he has made a bloody good living out out it...

 

[RasputinLives]

I think it all came down to 1997 Jerez and1998 Melbourne, should have backed out of the agreement, got to be ruthless.

there was no agreement. Mclaren messed up and Mika lost the lead when he was told to come into the pits on the wrong lap. DC was then ordered to move over and made sure he did it in the most obvious way he could. He then had to jump into line when it came to the Mclaren .edia assult and thus the 'agreement' story was born to make everyone look good and to stop a hail of a bad press. Why it was not reacted go as harshly as Austriagate or FIFTY I'll never know but I'm guessing the majority of F1 outrage was still being used up on Schumi after the stunt he pulled on JV at the end of 97.

I think that event and Jerez has a lot to do with why I think Ron Dennis would happily sell his own Granny for success.

 

[Il_leone]

Dc acted out of intergrity Melbourne 98 because Hakkinen did mess up the pit stop and flew into the red mist in pulling off a serious of fastest laps that showed Mclaren's true pace

It has to be said it was Hakkinen's fault for not checking why he was being called in surely he should have known his race plan before hand

I think Jerez 97 was the start of who Ron really favoured at MClaren and that meant DC was always against it at Mclaren

 

[RasputinLives]

Sorry will never believe DC pulled over of his own accord in Mel 98. No race driver would

 

[Il_leone]

well apart from DC the only other driver who might have done that was Damon Hill

 

[Bill Boddy]

Rubens Barrichello?

 

[teabagyokel]

Eddie Irvine basically admitted he pulled over for Schumacher of his own accord; presumably to save the embarrassment of being passed by said team-mate.

 

[Jos the Boss]

Identical no?

 

[FB]

Boss eyed, square jaw, looks like a twat - yup, that's DC.

 

[F1ang-o]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/201...ister-found-dead_n_2653966.html?ncid=webmail1
I watched him on TV yesterday, he was told of his sisters death when the programme ended.
So sad.

 

[racecub]

Yeah dreadful news Ang. So young and with so much ahead of her

 

[Mezzer]

Without going into detail, because it sounds more dramatic than it was (at least in my mind), I had a brush with cancer 4-odd years ago. Net effect was I ALWAYS kiss the wife and kids goodbye whenever I or they leave. Not that I didn't before, but now I ensure it happens. This kind of thing just reinforces that you never know what's going to happen and tragedies sadly do occur.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Brilliant driving from DC today, taking the Race of Champions,Champion of champions, title without a single defeat. Including beating Petter Solberg World rally cross champion, whilst driving a rally cross car...twice.
Massively enjoyed that.

Not bad for an old retired bloke.
Well done DC.