FLOP OR FATE? Opinions on David Coulthard's F1 Legacy 

He wasn't an elite driver, very few are. But to beat prime Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen to a few wins is something very few people could do. Deserves some respect imo

DC was only overrated by the British press. They expected him to be Jackie and Jim combined. He was a solid driver but in the wrong era, however his work at RB showed what he could do.

I was once bullied for genuinely liking David Coulthard but I have no regrets. He's probably one of the few F1 drivers I would love to shake hands with in person along with Jensen.

People don't realize how quick Hakkinen actually was. He had a competitive and semi-reliable car only for 2-3 years and he took 2 WDC's and 20 poles from that brief period. Even Schumacher said that Hakkinen was the only other driver he respected. I think DC in his prime could have won WDC without Hakkinen and Schumacher around. Those two were just superior drivers compared to everyone else. I think DC was a bit like Gerhard Berger. Being Senna's teammate was pretty much impossible task. Mika and Schumi were just as dominant drivers as Alain and Ayrton in their prime. Cheers, great video. Always loved DC, what a gentleman.

A very decent driver, and knows his limitations. He helped Red Bull get going. He also had the best jaw line on the F1 grid.

Coulthard was a right man, at the right place but never at the right time.

Coulthard was an upper middle of the road driver like Webber was - capable of challenging in a competitive car, almost always (at least later) brought the car home in one piece but was never really an elite driver like Michael, Mika, etc

He is a really nice fella. Met him at Heathrow a few months ago and was so friendly and willing to chat

Similar to Webber, I think the main problem was that while not contractually a number two driver, he basically was. Ron Dennis’ emotional support was for Hakkinen and in the end that broke DC. Consider back to back races in Jerez 97 and Melbourne 98, where Dennis intervened to make DC move over. The 97 season had been pretty close between DC and Mika. Mika was still definitely quicker, but DC was capable of lightening starts and had good race pace.

This is a really nice concept in my opinion. Would be great if you could do similar videos for the likes of Massa, Heidfeld, Fisichella or Webber, who had success in F1 but maybe never hit their true potential

Enjoyed this one. The West McLarens with DC + Mika/Kimi vs Schumacher are my first memories of F1.

Dc was at his best just after the plane crash he survived. For the next few races he was probably the hardest he ever fought. Almost like the plane crash made think f**k it life’s to short.

DC is the British Rubens Barrichello. In the best car but just had the better team mate and had another top driver to compete against. If Button wasn't in that Brawn and had someone like Trulli he'd have won the Championship. Just like DC and Mika as it were the better car. Just one of those things unfortunately but he did so much for his team mate and the team he doesn't get the credit for it.

I love listening to both Coulthard and Palmer in the commentary box. They both seem like very smart drivers that were, or at least are NOW, keenly aware of their own limitations.

The one memory that will always stick in my head about DC is that race at Magny-Cours, when he flipped him the bird after Michael forced him off the track, and then a few laps later give him a taste of his own medicene. To do that, to THE Michael, was incredibly cool and cements his place as a legend in my opinion. Now imagine Russell or Piastri doing that to Verstappen nowadays. Max would be pissed for sure lol.

Compared to Fisichella, Coulthard was a titan of F1. A very good driver, just missing that x-factor. 13 wins is a great career however you look at it. Let us not forget that Montoya had 7 in total.

I like how Schumacher lent him a spare helmet for Monaco 96

His interview with Eddie jordon was great. He knows he missed a few opportunities but hes happy with his run.

Also note Mika won the 1997 European GP thanks to Ron Dennis telling DC to let him by, basically when it became clear that JV wouldn't fight them and a McLaren would win, Dennis gave the win to Mika because he was yet to win.

Coulthard just befell the same fate as Checo, Bottas, Barrichello, Webber, Frentzen, etc.: A very good driver in his own right who could lead a midfield team but couldn’t hack it against a better teammate in a competitive car. I don’t think there’s much shame in that, after all, for someone to be first, someone needs to be last. But it stopped them from having a legacy of a world championship or a place among the greats

I think DC biggest problem was not being able to consistently challenge over a whole season. He'd have a few months in a season where hes world class and beats Schumi and Mika then for a few months he falls off and is just kinda there.

When McLaren came out with the west livery I immediately became a DC fan and McLaren fan. I think if you offered his career to most drivers they’d take it in a heartbeat, cause in retrospect he had a pretty decent run. His podcast with EJ is a decent listen as well

DC is what might be called a Journeyman driver: an absolute professional, capable of developing a car, bringing a team along, supporting a rockstar #1 driver, but not cut out to be a #1 himself. More rare, he recognized his gifts, his limitations, and saw how he could use the former to overcome the latter. He left a legacy in F1 is championships for other drivers, but it's still HIS legacy. Both Vettel and Verstappen won their World Drivers titles at the team he fostered, to call out just part of the mark he left on the sport.

I watched his whole career. He was a solid jouneyman driver who kept his teammates - and The Michael, at times - honest. He deserved his seat.

I think it's interesting that whenever Coulthard had a car capable of challenging for the title (1998, 1999, 2003) he was outperformed by his teammate. When he had a car that was clearly inferior to the best on the grid he pretty much matched World Champions in Häkkinen and Räikkönen (1997, 2001, 2002). You could argue that he was an excellent driver who just lacked the ability to extract the extra 1% from the very best cars.

I grew up working in my dads deli in Montreal during my youth. I would usually just work the cashier when i was young (i was 9 at the time, this was 2001). My birthday usually falls around the gp too, that year i wasnt able to go to the gp and i was working the cashier when dc came in for a sub. He was so nice and talked to me about f1 the whole time, i told him it was my bday and we werent going to the gp this year and i told him how crappy it was his mechanics touched his car before the race in 2000 when i went. He laughed and told some jokes but he signed a 20$ bill he had in his wallet and told me to get something nice. That was awesome of him but it gets better, in 2002 we went to the gp and i got a photo with him after his podium and he actually recognized me and asked me if i got anything nice. I was stunned dude, as a 10year old I was speechless, i told him it was on the wall in a frame and he said "a 20$bill on your wall? I would have spent it before on sweets the moment I left the shop when i was a lad". super cool dude and i was a massive fan of everything hes been in since. I know i dont tell stories as good as aiden but i like sharing it cause its an insane story.

DC is a humble, genuine guy. Maybe he was too nice, maybe he was missing that tiny extra bit of talent... But one thing is certain. He's a credit to the sport we love.

Always liked his perspective on F1 when he was in BBC/channel 4 and his podcast with EJ is top rate. He's very modest and will poke fun at himself

DC was the Lotus 107 of drivers. Had some good moments, often looked handy, but intimately not going to win the championship. I’d like to know how good he was as a development driver, sometimes they’re as useful as the race winner

It's not easy to be Mika Hakkinen's teammate, we're talking about a guy who Michael Shumacher himself considered his greatest rival. DC did a good enough job but probably people expected him to do as well as Mika was, which was no easy task. On RB he did the job he needed to do, be a solid driver for them so RB could build a team. I guess you could simply say he was a good driver yet no Championship material, and he didn't bother himself thinking about that. He knew what his capabilities were and did as best as he could. Deserves some respect tbh.

Congratulations on the new house dude! Keep up the good work! Thanks for making the videos! and hopefully your soon over 100k!

I remember watching him as a kid and thinking he was fast! When he gave the win to Hakkinen in OZ 1998, i thought, what a good man. Honouring a gentlemans agreement. Giving a fellow team mate a win. That's how it should be. Instead, in our world (f1 world), this was not seen as honourable at all. It probably meant that contractually, he had to move aside or worse simply acknowledge his teammate as being the 'no1'. I think he coulda been a no.1. What a chin though right??!

love listening to the videos! i love the niche history/opinions of motorsport, and the way you put the videos together.

I'd really like you to do a similar one for Eddie Irvine as he had to fulfil a similar role at a similar time and he too never had any Bottas/Checo illusions of going for the championship (when The Michael was fit at least!).

Loved DC as a teen. Being an American teenager who watched F1 in the middle of the night on Speedvision (RIP😢), he was a good foil to Schumi and Mika - as I never saw the European press narratives.. Great jawline too.

Fun fact DC could have won the Monaco GP had Ron Dennis pitted him first and not Mika - who was behind DC in the spare car following his acclimatisation practice shunt

I think Stirling Moss deserves credit in the gentlemen driver category. He gave up his only championship.

DC was a very capable driver and an excellent wingman. He did well in that role. Without Mika and the Michael he would probably have more wins to his name, but that's how it went. Which opens up a whole new discussion. Good drivers who go unrecognized due to having a great/excellent on the grid. There must have been more drivers than DC the last 25 years who have been overlooked and almost forgotten due to Schumacher, Alonso, Hakkinen, Hamilton, Verstappen and the like. Might we get a series on this?

As someone who grew up with F1 in the early 2000s, I have a huge amount of respect for DC. A great example of DC's much-missed 'racing instinct' and my stand-out vivid memory is his radio message before the start of the 2005 US Farce that 'it comes down to my choice, I want to race'. Consummate racer, and deserves far more respect from the stats crowd.

As a Finn I was naturally fan of Mika. And during that period it seemed pretty clear on who was the number one driver. Mika was for Mclaren and Michael was for Ferrari. In the story of that mentioned France GP, DC has said that there and then he felt like unstoppable and that he could drive anything and be fast and win the race. He admitted that those World Champion guys would have those kind of days more often than not but he was glad to have those days at least some times. So I really respect that. Barricello seemed to be in similar situation and he gave one famous victory to Michael in Austria which backfired in media. But on the other hand, it is a TEAM. Team Ferrari or Team Mclaren. So why not play a team game? I think in 2023 (and recent years) far too many drivers think they can be world champion. Okay, GOAT Latifi just didnt have the equipment, but someone like Checo or Bottas just dont have ”it”. They make far too many unforced errors. Or Gasly and Albon who just failed at RedBull. Maybe those two guys could have made progress and grow into better drivers but lets be honest. They are nowhere near Max. So team play is lacking in todays F1. Its always ”fighting against your teammate” and being tough competitor when in reality you could make a fool of yourself while trying. So I dont mind team orders because I think it can be a part of the strategy. After all, why there even are two drivers in a team? If they just compete against each other. Why not then just have one per team? So in my opinion it is not a team if they dont play in the benefit of the whole team. And sometimes it means that one must let the other through.

DC was a class act and as you say. He was aware of his ability, aware of others and still able to be competetive with it. I feel like its really been along time since have had a proper number 2. DC was one. Rubens was one. Massa too mostly. I guess Kimi kind of was at Ferrari, but i feel like that was more just because he couldn't be assed then because he was sat there going "Other guy is too good compared to me I'll just help."

I’m still watching the video, David was a good driver but he was just around when there where better drivers unfortunately.

Keke Rosberg won a world championship with just 1 GP victory in the season. Timing is a huge factor in Formula 1. Niki Lauda gained 3 world championships with 25 wins, while Coulthard had 13 wins (over 50% of Niki's win) and zero championships. F1 is very relative. Fact is that Coulthard had many impressive moments, convinced with skill and talent and has been a true sportsman who was good for the sport. Even without a championship, David Coulthard always comes up in my mind when thinking about great F1 drivers.

He’s hardly a flop…. Ya didn’t win the title. But he’s a huge success.

Ive been waiting for a video on David, and now here it is! I'm sitting down.

I'd agree with that - DC was a damn good driver on his day & didn't let his team or machinery down, but he wasn't in the Mika or Schumacher class of Damn good drivers - but as others have said, very few are in that bracket

A few Coulthard thoughts... He signed a contract to drive for McLaren in 1995 (reportedly at the 1994 Australian GP weekend), so Ron Dennis clearly believed in him enough from the start to headhunt him. Of course it didn't happen, because Williams exercised an option in their contract and the Contracts Recognition Board ruled in Williams' favour. It's ironic that the driver Williams & especially Renault really wanted in that seat for 1994 was Nigel Mansell, but he couldn't escape his CART commitments. And he has since said he had a contract for 1995 with Williams. (In the end McLaren signed Mansell for 1995 to replace their first choice Coulthard, and we know how badly that ended.) One can't help wondering how different things might have been if Coulthard had gone to McLaren and Mansell stayed at Williams for 1995. I suspect McLaren's return to form would have been accelerated - David Coulthard was an excellent test driver. And that at the very least Williams could have won the 1995 manufacturers title. It might even have given Renault enough confidence to block (or nerf - restrict to older versions) Briatore transfering Ligier's Renault engine supply to Benetton, and given Williams the driver's title too. [Mansell/Coulthard for 1995 has to be one of the top 3 what might have beens of the decade - behind Mansell vs Prost for 1993 (in Hungary he had a last minute offer to stay he could have accepted) and of course Senna's career not being tradgically cut short.] It's also worth remembering that Hakkinen's first two wins involved Coulthard being given team orders to move aside and let him past. Although Hakkinen had mechanical retirements from races he was leading earlier in the year, Hakkinen really needed that Jerez '97 win which was handed to him (and Ron Dennis knew it). He was always fast, but he really didn't seem like he had what it took mentally to win races and seemed destined to be another Jean Alesi. (Australia '98 too - if Ron Dennis hadn't corrected the error, which seemingly was Hakkinen mishearing a radio instruction, I'm not convinced Mikka would have been able to challenge for the title.) And although Coulthard was headhunted by Ron Dennis in '94 (not just the best option available at the time for '96), Mikka was very much his favourite. Coulthard has described how at team meetings during race weekends Ron would ask Coulthard's engineer 'what do you want to do', then turn to Hakkinen's engineer and ask 'what are *we* doing?' One can imagine what it must have done to Coulthard's confidence (& that of his side of the garage) for the team principal & boss to constantly refer to himself as being part of his team mate's side, not a neutral party overseeing the whole team. After Coulthard left McLaren, Ron talked about how on his day he was fantastic and drove like a champion. Then at the next race that was all gone. If only he could have performed like he did in 2001 every year... At the very least he deserves to be remembered alongside Gerhard Berger. Excellent drivers who could be relied on to consistently get a win or two every season, if there was half a chance. (Maybe outperfor their illustrious team-mate when the car was off the pace and under-developed.) Superb at backing up their illustrious team-mates, and even able to beat them on merit on their day. Well ahead of most of the grid, but not quite on the same level as the very best drivers of their era. I don't think Mikka would have unlocked his potential and been able to compete against Schumacher without Coulthard there in the team.

Unfortunately he had Mika and the Michael and even more unluckily a competent Ferrari to deal with😮

Good summation. I think DC has always been very honest about what level of driver he was, doesn't complain about this result or that, admitted his mistakes. The late 90s era of him and Mika as team mates is also one of my favourite eras of the sport and I'm of the opinion that Mika is often underrated and a bit forgotten, so for DC to perform well against him and Michael shows he had some talent.

He was intelligent, clean, talented and entertaining driver. One of the best going against the absolute best.

I remember DC crashing at the pit entrance at Adelaide in 1995. Kinda summed him up.

The 2000 season was one that got away. 3 wins in the first half of the year looked like he was finally making a challenge, but then Mika got into his stride, culminating in THAT pass at Spa, and DC's season fell to pieces.

I always felt like his talent was there. Like you said though the odds of him beating Schumacher and Häkkinen weren't great. Or maybe his forehead just created too much drag.

I think he was the perfect dude for the job he had. He made Mika just that little bit more scary. I think if compared to Mika and the Michael doesn't look all to good, but who does? Maybe Verstappen, Hamilton, Senna, Prost, Clark or Gilles. My point being, prime Mika and Michael where like Titans among mortals. But compared to every other driver on the field in the time between 98 and 2002 (or something, just throwing numbers around here) maybe Rubens was a bit better, probably Montoya as well. But other than that? If you overlook his amok day in Spa 98, where he didn't just do the thing with the Michael, but also caused the big one in T1 and I beliefe at least two other collisions before getting rear ended by Michael, I think he was an utterly competend driver who fought to the bitter end for his team, did what he had to do and deserves his mention, when talking about Mikas titles. I'd even go so far to say, that if Ferrari would have had DC instead of Irvine in 99 they'd won the title. (same goes for Rubens or a crew that can count to 4, tho)

It was clear after the early races in 2001 that it was his best chance of challenging for a title. His pole in Monaco proved he's got talent but the McLaren reliability & Williams taking points off him showed how much he dropped mid season. There was a chance in 99 but reliability & mistakes cost him & almost cost Mika. He's a good driver overall

I don't think he was over rated, my memories of the time were that he was a solid number 2. First to Damon, then to Mika, I didn't see his Red Bull years but perhaps it was too late to be a number 1 by then.

Just as John Prescott was 'Two Jags', David Coulthard was 'Two Tenths', roughly the gap that Mika Hakkinen would find over him at the end of a qualifying session. In his early years, DC was actually often quick but made boneheaded mistakes. Then when he became more consistent on Sundays, he developed a case of the Brundles on Saturdays.

I think Coulthard succeeded at Red Bull, Where Bottas is failing at Alfa Romeo. Bottas should be point out who Alfa Romeo need to get from Mercedes to get Audi in shape. Granted in know Alfa base in Switzerland isn't the best for poaching British based talent, but they need more than Andrea Seidl to make championship happen.

He won the only GP I ever attended, the 2000 French GP, where he beat both Mika and Schumacher, and flicked Schumacher off when overtaking him. It was all very satisfying.

Hey, congrats on the new place. Gonna be moving myself in about two months time. Will miss the airport down the street as a lifelong fan of aviation, but this current apartment just isn't doing it for me anymore so I have to take flight eventually..Yep, I went there. Anyhow, If you think about it The beginning of David Coulthard's career had a scenario not too dissimilar To Kevin Harvick in NASCAR: a Young driver that got rushed up to the big leagues shortly after the death of a Sporting legend that happened to be the primary driver of that team while the sport was reeling from said death (which involved a fatal neck injury and would change the sport forever). To have the amount of wins he has against the drivers he was surrounded by (All pretty much at or reaching their prime) is nothing to scoff at. Some drivers who were barely competitve just dropped off the face of the earth as soon as the amount of top drivers in top teams doubled so I'd say David was quite solid given the Royal Rumble he ended up finding himself in.

Best wishes for your new house. Coulthard was in the middle of my F1 period of interest. Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, but most of all Denny Hulme and Bruce McLaren. The so-called race coverage was shocking and often focused on this champion or that. It made no difference what a driver did from the back. The race featured the leaders passing back markers and pit stops. Looking back, the coverage is better than what I could see, but Coulthards best years were in the shadow of other drivers. However, this is F1 and he was there and did well.

In terms of being a clinical driver, he was, as you've said and by his own admission, not quite at the top. But as a team builder given what he experienced at Williams and McLaren, he was excellent in giving Red Bull what it needed. There are elements where he was overrated, certainly, but I think his team ethos is deeply underrated. As it always seemed to be.

i always liked DC as a race driver, i've been getting those short vid recommended also

He was a solid driver, on his day he could beat his contemporaries, but as with all the guys who aren't the rarefied few, that day wasn't often enough. He himself, as noted, says he lacked that killer instinct (an always fun story of Bernie getting him and Schumi together at Monza after the Spa crash where Michael refused to even countenance the idea that he could ever be in the wrong made him realise this) and wasn't the best qualifier, especially in the 1 lap shootout format. He was a great team player, despite being treated pretty poorly by Ron and played a big role in Red Bull becoming what it is today. If he had ended up winning a title, I don't think it'd be much different than Button and some of the other 1 time winners that got it via the stars aligning, which is what he says himself, he's not as good as the genuine greats, which doesn't make him bad. I don't think he's overrated, just he had the media pressure to be a champion just because he was the most prominent Brit for most of his career at Mclaren.

I supported DC and Mika back in 2001. But I knew DC would never be able to be world champion. What he can do, however, is being a reliable wingman. Would love to hear his story one day.

Honestly, I feel like driver types like Coulthard or Barichello are very, underrated might be the wrong term, but undervalued. Guys who know their strengths and limits, can bring the car home most of the time and are willing to put themselves as the rear gunner and focus in team development. DC chose that role and fulfilled it in a very good manner at McLaren and Red Bull for the most part. I'd take them over the Ricciardos, Botasses and Perez' who think they are WC material by getting a sniff once and then fail hard and lose all motivation any day. I can already tell I'll get a lot of flack for this, but DCs supposed underperformance may actually say more about the guy he supported than himself. He knew his role and accepted it, and did his best to fulfill it. Häkkinnen took until the last race in 1997 to get his first win, gifted by Schumacher trying to take out Villeneuve and Ron Dennis letting him through. He had the best car by miles in 1998 yet Schumacher was still able to put up a decent challenge. Then the Michael took himself out in mid 1999 and Häkkinen somehow still had to go to the very last race against Ferraris Nr.2 driver Irvine. Once Michael actually did beat him, he lost all motivation and ultimately bailed after 2001. He was a good driver, but how people seriously think he was in the same ballpark as Schumacher is beyond me.

Too many people getting into the sport rate a lot of older drivers and their stats based upon where F1 is now. There's almost 10 more GP's each year compared to the 90's, reliability is much higher, less of the No1 & 2 thing (IIRC Irvine had to pay for parts for his car in '96 just to race). To even win a race you had to be a great driver and drivers in that era could be a legend for what seems like nothing today. Coulthard is underrated, I've never seen anyone claim he was better than the drivers he lost to.

The problem is that DC was a team player in a sport that’s all about winning and doesn’t really have any patience for those type of drivers. But the mechanics and the lead drivers of the team love drivers like him, Barrichello and Bottas as they can set up a car brilliantly. And there’s no doubt about it, both Mika and DC were a great team.

I remember well how Coulthard was heralded as the future champ in 1995 and later years. More than Hakkinen. And he was a kind of celebrity, more than Hakkinen.

DC has talked about his experience being the number 2 at mclaren, ron dennis insisted that he was trreating them equally but later admitted he was giving mika favourable treatment bc he was so close with him after that accident. I didn't watch F1 back then, heck I wasn't born until '01 but when I look at DC's record I can't help but see a similarity to carlos sainz. Not quiet on leclercs pace but could beat him over a season with poor reliability. He wasn't some wonder kid, but good enough to be the teammate of any of the greats and do well even if he couldn't join them

Ah, there it is. :) Good analysis, nice video. Overall I seond your take on it. Obviously it's not that obvious with DC. :) Mixed bag. To me he was a really good driver with very strong competition. I kinda remember the stats on his qualifyings agains Mika beingl ike 2:1 in favour of Mika. Thereabouts. Even Schumacher said once if he'd be on the same teams as Mika, Mika would have got more pole positions than him as his was so good at that. Taking that into consideration DC's numbers aren't bad at all. He certainly had some speed. More over he was out of luck a couple of times: That pit stop debacle in Montreal 97 while leading, he also lost the lead at the Nürburgring in 97 (after Mika's engine exploded - so that one goes for both). Then there's Montreal 98 ..dropping out while leading, Monza in 98?, Hockenheim 2000 (not a technical failure but with the safety car at the very worsed possible time it was unfortunate), Magny Cours 99. It could have been more at times with just a bit of luck on his side. I think he led for a short time too at the Nürburgring in 99 while leaders were retiring in very short succession (Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher). Then again a few times it was his mistake: Austria 99 coliding with Hakkinen early on, the jumped start in Indianapolis in 200..1?. Also him losing control in Argentina 98, that could have been an important one. Also by the end of 98 and 99 he seemed to have lacked a bit of motivation by the send of the season which cost him the chance to have more success. That shouldn't happen. Overall his results were not constantly up there in some years, at times due to unfortunate retirements, at times due to not being fully up there. Still on his day he could beat just everybody out there. I remember like three times he overtook Schumacher with some master class style. Isn't he also the driver with he most victories without ever being world champion? Against the competition at the time, that's not a given thing. I would however see the "early 98" situation in a different light: In 96 and 97 he wasn't behind Hakkinen in an obvious way. As you said: he won more. He could have won even more than he did. Hakkinen too (97: Silverstone, Austria, Nürburgring), but the number is still a bit behind (DC 96: Nürburgring, Imola, Monaco, 97: Melbourne, Montreal, Monza, Nürburgring). At times people saw DC slightly ahead of Mika resultwise and positionwise, I clearly remember that from the media's take. Of course Mika's crash played part in him not being fully up there and still driving well. But so ..at this point maybe the hierarchy wasn't THAT much of a given thing. Of course time told us: Mika was fast as hell. :-D As he came across as a class act quite often (Australia 98, Jerez 97) I was always cheering for him. :) Nice video.

Probably one of the better non title winning drivers of the decade. Perfectly competent on his day

I've always viewed him as a solid driver, not amazing but also not terrible. And as you pointed out, he did basically help Red Bull to their dominance, and that's still paying off for them today

Flop or Fate .... Mark Webber. Do a video please. 🙂

David took the opportunities open to him and on the whole made the most of them. If he would have come into F1 with a back/midfield team would he have got the opportunity to drive for a top team? Maybe, but I think his career would have been a lot shorter.

Valtteri Bottas is probably the perfect example to a modern David Couldhart. thats what i always felt when bottas got hyped every season again and again. but back in the days there was no social media or memes.

A key figure for me, simply because when I was first watching he was The Great British Hope™, famous enough to get referenced everywhere, from The Beano (Les Pretend: "I'm David Coulthard, the Noo!") to Coronation Street (Jack Duckworth: "You came racin' round there like David Flamin' Coulthard!") So, we weren't exactly fans, because, you know, "The Brit", but of course, that's only when he was winning, otherwise he was "The Scot", because Britain. Ask Andy Murray about that. Initially, that right place, wrong time might not have applied at first glance, because Mika didn't look like being in that amazing team mate column until McLaren got their hands on The Newey. DC was always on a hiding to nothing at Williams, because the other guy at that point was Damon, and Sir Frank burned through drivers then like Red Bull now. Had the McLaren not been so unreliable - familiar story throughout the 00s - one suspects Mika, not David would have been runner up in ’01. He’d have still retired, though. Great, says the press, then Kimi turned up. Decent enough, but, to use David’s sort of catchphrase in commentary, “On this day in history…”, that damned expectation got in the way.

Infamous? That middle finger thing in France in 2000 was brilliant.

Rewind back to 1994 and I was an English born 11 year old who'd lived in Scotland for the bulk of what I could remember of my life. Having a Scottish F1 driver come seemingly out of nowhere after Senna's death was pretty fricking awesome. So I wound up growing up with DC as one of my sporting heroes. At the start of his career Damon Hill was still my main man but DC was still a very good number 2, him winning a Grand Prix in '95 was pretty much inevitable and I assumed that it was inevitable that Damon would win a world title and DC, being that much younger would win multiple titles. Well Damon got his title in '96 of course but I hadn't counted on DC getting shutinted out of Williams to a sub-vintage McLaren. And then DC started winning races again in '97 so maybe those titles were back on. Australia '98 though...if DC hadn't honoured that deal, he would have gotten those titles, that I am dead cert about. '98-'00 was when he was at his peak. Unlike Eddie Irvine he didn't suck up to Schumacher only to get cocky when Michael was out of the picture in '99. He may have been the best of the rest in '01 but Michael just took the mickey out of everyone that year. '02-'03 he remained the best Brit but was past his peak, '04 he got eclipsed by Jenson Button out of nowhere and then got shunted to Red Bull in '05 to fade out. Best Brit in my lifetime to not win a world title and probably the former driver I'd most like to hang out with(even if I would have to tidy my flat pretty sharpish if he came round) but this side of the Lewis Hamilton era he's destined to become one of F1's forgotten men unfortunately.

Anyone that pissed off Schumacher and gifted Jordan a 1-2… at Spa, is likeable

DC was the ideal number 2 driver. Good enough to fight for wins in his own right, but also smart enough to realise that he wasn't at the level of Mika, Kimi or Schumi, and just accept it instead of falling into the trap of overdriving.

This is, along with Mika, my favorite driver and I can't argue with what you're saying to be honest. But I would like to add that 2001 may have been his best result on paper, but 2000 was really his best year. He scored more points and was well in the championship hunt until Monza. But as you said, he was competing with Mika and MIchael. DC had what it took to compete for wins, but he was not near consistent enought to perform on that level that he needed to mount a proper title challenge. I would turn more at underrated to be honest, he did what he could in Formula 1 at that time, not less than what he was capable of. He made some mistakes, but so did everyone else at times. Even Michael and Mika. DC has nothing to be ashamed about, and also being one of the most honest, kind and logical drivers at that time is something I rate highly

When Michael Schumacher was at Ferrari in the early days he was the most successful driver at that time, nobody else on the grid, many of which hadn't been on the grid many seasons, didn't have as many wins, my exact thoughts on David Coulthard, the Bottas/Perez of his day.

You should definitely make these for loads of drivers

I keep getting those DC Eddie shorts too!

I'm pretty sure Melbourne '98 was just normal team orders, not DC being too nice. Him and Mika made it sound in the podium interviews like they had their own handshake deal and Mika was like "aww, this guy's so nice" and continued to spin it that way later, but in later comments DC said the team gave them that order before the race about leader at turn 1 getting the win because the team knew they were going to dominate and didn't want them to fight each other. The context clues make it pretty obvious that McLaren was just trying to be sneaky with their team orders at the time. News articles I can still dig up from the time show that people certainly suspected that's what happened.

To be fair to Coulthard he did have some atrocious luck. In 1999 for instance he had 6 retirements that year due to mechanical failure including 3 of the first 4 races. Still he will probably be the first to admit he was not quite at the same level as Mika or Michael

I would be really interesting to know what DC was like when it came to car development. As Adrian Newey said in his book. Webber and Vettel were perfect for car development. Marks feedback on aerodynamics and Sebs feedback on Mechanical grip. So it’s possible Seb may not have one 4 world titles without Mark. But the driver’s contribution to car development is often not acknowledged by the press and spectators. People say when a driver is winning because he has the best car, but why does he have the best car? So it would be really interesting to know DC’s contribution towards Mclaren and RB car development. Both Christian Horner and Ron Dennis must have had a high opinion of him. And trading DC for Montoya wasn’t a good trade. With respect of hindsight of course. Montoya was a quicker driver but it’s clear Newey didn’t think much of him, and Montoya was dropped for good reasons In 2006.

"Great News!" Me: What??? is it the Dacia Sandero?

Second in the championship in 1998, a race winner multiple times, I’d hardly call him a flop. I feel like the word for Coulthard is “unheralded.”

Coulthard was my mom’s favourite. He was a very good Grand Prix driver.

He won 13 races. How many non-champions in modern F1 have that many? I hold him in great regard.

DC was a safe pair of hands, never ruthless or consistently fast enough to be a world champ. Probably an ideal 2nd driver, which is precisely what he was. Decent career, but nothing special.

Hot take: had Coulthard won Melbourne 98 instead of Mika, we'd be having a very different conversation... It's not that he lacked the "killer instinct", he always got the short end of the stick against a relatively equal teammate (Damon first, then Mika) and so he was kinda forced to settle into the #2 driver role. Not because he was significantly slower, like Berger to Senna, Irvine and Barrichello to MSC), but because the internal hierarchy sort of "happened". And he had to go along with that, as he had no other option besides risking a team war.

I don’t think he was a flop, I think he was about the fourth or fifth best driver in the park, especially towards the end of the late 90s. And his career and results seem to reflect that in my opinion. He reminds me a lot of Mark Webber.

So David Coulthard’s essentially responsible for Max’s & Seb’s titles? If he’s the one who suggested RB get Newey, then yes!

Its a shame you scanned through a bit without going into too much detail - I think he had more potential and talent than Hill. Both are comparable as both were Williams test drivers. I think DC had a higher ceiling than HIll. He had impressive runs in 1994 you failed to mention. He was running ahead of Hill at Montreal in only his second race but had to let him through. He was going to be on podium at Monza but ran out of fuel at the final corner due to a miss calculation from the Williams team due to the practice laps. The 1994 car was really difficult at first and he lacked experience but I think he showed a lot of potential in 1994 hence he got the drive over Nigel and he had to live with that pressure of being replaced toward the end of 1994 for Nige. In 1995 he had 4 poles in the FW15 and was leading many times out pacing Hill but had the infamous hydraulic failure which surged Williams that year as they got it wrong and Benetton got it so right with the Renault package and reliability. He retired when leading in Buenos Aires, Spa, had the pit lane speed issue at Silverstone when leading, he could of won as many races as Hill in 1995, Monza he had the wheel bearing failure too he would of won that race. 1997 he should of won Montreal but pitted right before a red flag came out when leading. In 2000 and 2001 he was a very good match for Schumacher and had grown in wheel to wheel combat with Schumacher and grown a pair. Something Hill really lacked was wheel to wheel ability. 1998 and 1999 were very poor seasons for DC as he got DOMINATED by Hakkinen and the title was taking in 1999 due Schumacher breaking his leg and Hakkinen mentally drained from 1998 - DC really should have capitalized on this year. 2003 you forget to mention he won the opening race at Melbourne, was leading the next race at Sepang before mechanical retirement and then was in contention at the next race at Interlagos before the red flag. I never got the DC hype at the time and after 2003 he tailed off but I think he was clearly a driver that maybe in a different parrell universe may of had different results if only a few things changed. He was linked to Ferrari in 95 and 96, and Mclaren bought in 1994 and loaned him out to Williams for 95 as their option on him wasn't until 1996 it was settled in court. But ultimately had Senna not died he of may of not to F1 until later in the 90s and it may of not been at a top team. But 13 wins isn't much to be turned down on and he was so sure better than Irvine or Barrichello - He just lacked that extra edge Michael and Mika had which was blinding speed in qualifying and in the race when it truly mattered that separated them from being world champions and runner up drivers. Anyway I think DC peaked in 2000-2001 where he would out perform Mika who had mentally fallen off the edge and 1997 he was a good match for Mika. He had very attractive girl friends, and manages himself well today financially with many endeavours and lives a good life. To measure him in success - Not as good or consistent as a Schumacher or a Hakkinen, and lacked that single lap speed or pace when it really mattered like a charging drive Raikkonen would also do - but still had good race craft and on his day could get the best out of his car and showed wheel to wheel he could mix it with the best. He was a perfect team mate for a team owner to have - but clearly more talented than an Eddie Irvine or Barrichello. I would grade him an 8 out of ten, very good but not quite enough or a full package to win a world championship. He was better than a Jean Alesi or Berger as he would not break cars or loose his head with silly moves and drive well and smooth and definitely had the commitment.

Was runner up in the 2001 world championship, 58 points behind someone called Schumacher. Not too shabby.

Thanks!

The idea that DC is overrated is pretty wild to me. He performed pretty much everything he was asked to do to the best of his abilities, and as you said he knew the limits of his abilities and acted accordingly. Given the circumstances of the start to his F1 career and strained relationship with Williams, he did as well as could be expected in his first two years. His role at McLaren was to rear-gun for Mika, and they won two titles together. That he then got beat by Kimi in 2003 and 2004 is no shame: Kimi was an absolute monster in the early years of his career and often the fastest man on track in an era that included Schumacher, Alonso, and JPM. Then for the twilight of his career he went to Red Bull to help them build a winning team. You could maybe argue that there were better drivers to fill this role, but considering he still does show runs and PR work for Red Bull, they must consider his time there a job well done. I rate Barrichello as the greatest number two driver of all time, with DC right behind him. There are those who consider second place as first loser, but I think DC was one of the most successful drivers of the last 30 years in terms of turning in the performances he was asked to make, and doing the job he was paid to do. Top class driver.