David Coulthard is somebody who has traversed a number of eras of System One. The Scottish driver got here into the game as a substitute for Ayrton Senna, after his deadly crash within the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Over the following 15 years, Coulthard secured 13 race wins and was runner-up within the driver’s championship in 2001, behind Michael Schumacher.
After becoming a member of the newly shaped Pink Bull Racing in 2005, he marked a number of firsts for the Austrian facet, together with its first podium. His retirement from F1 in 2008 paved the way in which for the entry of Sebastian Vettel into the Pink Bull workforce. Vettel would then go on to herald the facet’s first championship.
ALSO READ – David Coulthard dazzles Mumbai in Pink Bull’s iconic RB7
Coulthard has since reinvented himself as an F1 pundit and commentator, and likewise continued his affiliation with Pink Bull as a guide, all of the whereas performing present runs internationally.
The 51-year-old Coulthard, who was in Mumbai for a Pink Bull present run on the Bandra Bandstand, shared his ideas and reminiscences on the game.
Q
You could have been with the Pink Bull workforce proper from its inception. You have been the one who secured the workforce’s first podium. How do you view the workforce’s development from an outsider to the dominating power that it’s at present?
It has been a incredible journey and it’s a reflection of the funding the workforce has completed in folks. If a workforce’s success is predicated simply on historic standing or legacy, Ferrari will win each single factor. However it’s about figuring out the suitable folks and investing in them and empowering them. Pink Bull is an power drink firm, however they now make System One-winning automobiles and have profitable soccer groups. They’ve a method of connecting with folks and that’s the root of their success. I’m proud to have been a part of the journey.
Q
Certainly one of your biggest wins occurred on the Monaco Grand Prix in 2002. Does this Bandra Bandstand road remind you of that circuit, contemplating the narrowness and on a regular basis really feel of it?
I used to be all the time fairly good at road circuits like Macau and Monaco. I’ve all the time felt snug in races the place could be very little room for error. It was consistent with my driving type. I used to be by no means snug in tracks with wider run-ons. Driving on these streets [Bandra] feels snug for me.
Q
This yr will mark the twenty fifth anniversary of the notorious 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, the place you and Michael Schumacher had a spat after an on-track collision. How do you look again on that incident?
It was a loopy day. There was an enormous crash initially, which I used to be additionally a part of. Then there was a restart and my teammate [Mika Hakkinen] crashed out. I had a fairly unhealthy race after which Michael [Schumacher] was about to lap me. I attempted to let him get previous me. He couldn’t see me and he crashed into me. And everybody noticed the response after that. He was clearly not glad and I perceive that. A few weeks later we made up with a face-to-face speak. Yearly for the Belgian Grand Prix, the incident will get replayed and now it is part of the folklore [chuckles]. What’s to be famous is that even with solely three wheels on, Schumacher was exceptionally quick.
Q
For the Mumbai present run, you drove the RB7, the automotive which Sebastian Vettel drove to win on the Indian Grand Prix. Sadly, that race is now not a part of the F1 schedule. Do you assume the race deserves to be again on the calendar, contemplating the rising fan base of the game within the nation?
I believe so. India is an important nation for F1. A variety of mind energy right here and know-how is creating quickly. The passion can also be encouraging. We have been at a school for a promotion occasion the opposite day and the response from the scholars and the viewers was sensible. It clearly exhibits that the game has grown at a powerful fee among the many youthful era.
Q
Vettel entered Pink Bull after your retirement in 2008. Now, he has stepped down from the game. The place would you fee him among the many finest F1 drivers of all time?
He [Sebastian Vettel] is unquestionably among the many biggest. Phenomenal success fee. 4 back-to-back world titles with an unimaginable quantity of poles and wins. And he did it his personal method. I like the journey he took. It was a bit of troublesome to observe in the long run, with him not assembly his personal requirements at Ferrari and Aston Martin. I met him not too long ago on the race of the champions. He was along with his household and he appears to be in a contented place.
