Coulthard confirms retirement decision

[The Dent Guy]

David Coulthard has confirmed that he will retire from Formula 1 racing at the end of the 2008 season.

I will be sorry to see him go.

Quotes from ITV.com

"I would like to announce today my decision to retire from racing in Formula 1 at the end of this season," said Coulthard in a statement issued at Silverstone."


"I will remain actively involved in the sport as a consultant to Red Bull Racing, focusing on testing and development of the cars.

"I am proud of my work at Red Bull Racing and will continue to race with the same focus until the last lap in Brazil.


"Thereafter I will continue to help the team develop and move towards their ultimate goal of winning races."


"My decision to retire was taken earlier in the year and is based on a desire to stop while I am still competitive and enjoying the immense challenge that grand prix driving represents," Coulthard explained.

"I also have the desire to look for new challenges within the sport.

"The decision to make this announcement at the British GP should be an obvious one for all to understand, as I have achieved two of my thirteen F1 victories at Silverstone and I am a member of the British Racing Drivers' Club, which hosts this event."

 

[C240Sport97]

I thought he had retired already since there's been so little press on him

 

[crammy69]

Thats a shame. My wife and I (and about 15 others) spent an evening with him at the British Embassy in Riyadh back in '95 (just before he won his first race for McLaren) and we found him to be one of the most polite, likeable and down to earth guys Ive ever met, and not at all the 'on-message' automoton that many painted him.

 

[evdok]

Thats a shame. My wife and I (and about 15 others) spent an evening with him at the British Embassy in Riyadh back in '95 (just before he won his first race for McLaren) and we found him to be one of the most polite, likeable and down to earth guys Ive ever met, and not at all the 'on-message' automoton that many painted him.

Me & Andy_cyp with a few others raced with him , Johnny Herbert , daemon hill....in carting for a charitable event, we all had the same cars so you could see just how pro they really are! and extremely down to earth

 

[Ratz]

Thats a shame. My wife and I (and about 15 others) spent an evening with him at the British Embassy in Riyadh back in '95 (just before he won his first race for McLaren) and we found him to be one of the most polite, likeable and down to earth guys Ive ever met, and not at all the 'on-message' automoton that many painted him.

Strange how things change, now he's seen as one of the sport's characters. We saw him being interviewed at the Autosport show a couple of years ago and he was clearly very intelligent, likeable & funny. Hopefully we'll still have access to his opinions which are usually pretty straightforward and accurate.

 

[crammy69]

Strange how things change, now he's seen as one of the sport's characters. We saw him being interviewed at the Autosport show a couple of years ago and he was clearly very intelligent, likeable & funny. Hopefully we'll still have access to his opinions which are usually pretty straightforward and accurate.

Indeed, perhaps when the BBC get the contract next year......

 

[IanA2]

....spent an evening with him..... we found him to be one of the most polite, likeable and down to earth guys Ive ever met...

Well he is a Scot

 

[grober]

No more Crazy Dave wit’ tha fierce flava of Red Bull then.

 

[Defiant]

Quite. What is the plan for that space on Sniffpetrol, then?

The featured him on Inside Grand Prix earlier this year (uh... as opposed to being something in the future I've not seen....), and he seems to be yet another of those truly considerate professionals.

 

[glojo]

Me thinks he could not get a drive next year,
I accept what everyone is saying about him but he was always a number two driver a nice second driver, but never a World Champion. My own thoughts are that Martin Brundle is a better TV link person.

I've never been a big fan of Coulthard and it would be wrong for me to start singing his praiss now that he is retiring. I do wish him well and perhaps he will pop up in a different formula?

Regards
John

 

[Defiant]

Maybe he'll cross over to this side, and take up boat racing. Sorry, NASCAR.

 

[glojo]

Maybe he'll cross over to this side, and take up boat racing. Sorry, NASCAR.

Or get a job with the BBC.

To me he lacked that edge that seperates champions from the rest.

Second place is the first placed looser

John

 

[Defiant]

I fancy myself as being a fairly competent driver. I've had a few track days to actually be able to put that to the test, and found I'm not far wrong.

I'd hate to see what the worst real racing driver could show me about getting around a track.

And like so many, I'm always curious -especially in F1- how things would settle-out if the drivers had to rotate through the different cars. How much was Schumacher, and how much was Ferrari?

Could DC have as much fun voicing as David Hobbs does?

 

[glojo]

How much was Schumacher, and how much was Ferrari?

Game on!

Schumacher had a water tight contract for most of his time at Ferrari and no team-mate was allowed to compete against him until that last season. When Massa won that first race his very first words were apologising and asking about his team-mate. For the rest of that season in dry conditions this very inexperienced Formula 1 driver was either as good as, or better than his team-mate and managed to both out qualify and sometime beat this so called icon! schumacher was in the right places at the right time, he has achieved more than any other Formula 1 driver and it is extremely unlikely that we will ever see a similar situation arise again in my life-time!

Having said that Formula 1 cars are still very difficult to drive and it does need a tremendous amount of skill to get even a half decent performance out of them. I think a good example would be Rossi, the Ferrari he test drove had to be tweaked and more conventional brakes fitted as he had problems getting heat into the tyres and also getting the brakes to work efficiently.

Who remembers the Hamster on Top Gear trying to get that F1 car around a track? He was struggling to just get the thing around the circuit without either stalling or spinning it. I accept Top Gear is all theatre but I'm certain that ANYONE given the opportunity to drive these unique vehicles would NOT want to make a fool of themselves or more important, they would want to show everyone just how good they are?

Could DC have as much fun voicing as David Hobbs does?

We ALL criticise our TV commentators but boy what a skill to be able to talk and keep the brain co-ordinated with both the eyes and the mouth!! I am no fan of the current ITV team but it cannot be easy to make a convoy of fast moving billboards appear interesting..... unless the track gets slippery!

John

 

[Defiant]

Complete agreement with Schui/Massa.

Did your side catch -I think it was Derek Bell- taking out a current F1 car a couple of seasons ago? That is, trying to take it out. It nearly broke the poor man. He was overwhelmed by how quickly everything occurs, and never did get a full grip on just what the current brakes could do. I'm convinced that the most fun in F1 these days must be in the watching. Of course, I have the fortunate "excuse" of simply being too large to fit into one of those little slippers, which is undoubtedly great fortune for the F1 world. Particularly those who re-smooth the runoff gravel, and put new pieces back on the tub.

I suppose it's the American commentators that make yours sound so good to me. There's always greener grass, isn't there?

 

[grober]

Down but not out.

It would appear from this that DC is not giving up racing altogether. http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/225090/coulthard_reveals_plans_to_carry_on.html
Sportcar racing or NASCAR are possibilities.

 

[glojo]

It would appear from this that DC is not giving up racing altogether. http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/225090/coulthard_reveals_plans_to_carry_on.html
Sportcar racing or NASCAR are possibilities.

Hmmm,
Neither Montoya, nor Villeneuve have set the World on fire when they went back to racing in America and both these drivers have a wealth of experience in competeing over there.

If he is confident of doing well, then go for it, but if he is making up the numbers then that will be sad.

John

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Oh well, Chin up David

 

[glojo]

Oh well, Chin up David

Meow-ouch!!

 

[Defiant]

Oh, Post #11.

Who wants to come along to the casino?