David Coulthard: Overrated and Under-performed
	by Mark Andrews, England

I have never really rated David Coulthard ever since his debut. It's hard to say exactly why. Sure, he was fast from the offset. Sure, he out-qualified and a number of times out-raced his team-mates but, for me, he just never seemed brutal enough. He was definitely more skilled in the driving department than many of his contemporaries; he certainly wouldn't have got as far as Formula One if he wasn't. He didn't seem to appreciate how cut-throat the motor racing category that is Formula One, could be. Sure he would win races. Of that I was in no doubt. To me he just didn't seem a driver who would be a future world champion. I felt he was destined to join the likes of Riccardo Patrese, Gerhard Berger, Michelle Alboreto and so on. Finishing their Formula One careers with a respectable list of races won but no world championship. Perhaps it set the tone that in Formula Ford, Formula 3 and Formula 3000 he had come agonisingly close to winning their respective championships several times but through a little bad luck and lack of killer instinct had not. Coulthard's 1998 season began in a controversial manner (the seemingly de-facto way for Formula One nowadays) a long time ago back in Melbourne. Coulthard, suited to the stroll through the park that is the Melbourne GP, looked to be ready to win the race for the second year in a row. The McLarens were superior straight out of the box and duly disappeared off into the distance as the rest of the teams looked on in bewildered horror - their worst fears had been suspected and Michael Schumacher lay at the side of the track with the V10 of the F300 having died. What happened next set the scene for the 1998 season that was ahead. Already under a cloud with Ferrari making noises about McLaren's sophisticated braking system, the McLaren of Hakkinen took an unexpected dive into the pits. So unexpected in fact that the McLaren pit crew weren't expecting it. One embarrassing error later Hakkinen rejoined the circuit now behind his team-mate. Suddenly, Coulthard started to slow in the later stages of the race. With Hakkinen ready to take over, Coulthard duly let the Finn pass. It emerged after the race that an agreement had been arranged whereby whoever got into the corner first would go on to take the chequered flag. Aghast, everyone started suggesting that such honourable agreements would cost the likeable Scot dearly and by mid-season this was appearing to be coming true. Following another show of superiority at Brazil where Hakkinen put his foot down and put the controversy of his last two wins behind him to win a race in his own right, things started to go wrong for McLaren, particularly Coulthard, at Buenos Aires. After an authoritative pole - nearly half a second ahead of Schumacher, who had qualified ahead of Hakkinen - the race turned into a disaster. Having made a poor start Schumacher wasted no time in despatching of the McLaren of Hakkinen and set his sights on catching and overtaking Coulthard. On lap 4 with the German all over him Coulthard appeared to be very edgy. Suddenly he ran wide at the hairpin and seeing the gap Schumacher went for it. More controversy came as Coulthard, realising what was about to happen, tried to regain the line. With the German already slightly on the grass Coulthard got over-ambitious and cut across into the side of the Ferrari. The inevitable collision dropped Coulthard to 6th. The fun wasn't over yet either. As he attempted to pass Villeneuve for position the Williams driver nudged into the rear of his car and both went off. After fighting back yet again the final twist of the afternoon came when hot on the heels of Alesi, the Sauber driver spotted oil on the track and quickly went to the left. Coulthard couldn't react fast enough and slid off up an escape road. Eventually he held on to finish 6th. After a stylish but narrow victory ahead of Schumacher at Imola and a solid if overshadowed 2nd placing at Barcelona, Coulthard went to Monaco believing he was back on track for the world championship. It wasn't to be. Although slimly catching Hakkinen after having slotted into 2nd place at the start on lap 17 the demons that have haunted McLaren all season, namely reliability, struck again. Slowing out of the tunnel and with flames and smoke coming out of the back, it was obvious that the Mercedes had over exerted itself and that was it for the weekend. Coulthard could take little consolation in knowing that Schumacher had not benefited after a later collision with Wurz. The race at Montreal in Canada was where Coulthard's title challenge really started to fall apart. After Hakkinen had failed to get away from the restart, Coulthard got ahead of Schumacher and sped off. Schumacher wasn't giving up the chase by any means though. Then the bad luck struck. On Lap 18 the McLaren suddenly started to slow. The throttle gone, the engine power halved. Coulthard cruised back into the pits and Schumacher went on to win. Following another Schumacher win at Magny Cours. Much to the annoyance of an ever increasingly disgruntled Ron Dennis, Coulthard arrived at Silverstone still hoping, still believing. Things did not go according to his expectations. A poor qualifying session led to a poor race. In poor conditions he spun out in a rather inept fashion. It was the tyres he protested. Hakkinen went off on full wets and Schumacher carried on for several laps longer on his intermediates. Schumacher went on to win and with a 24 point deficit, realistically, Coulthard could no longer win the world championship - mathematically yes, realistically no. With this in mind Coulthard had to change the way he approached races. Though it was against his instinct Coulthard now had to play the clear number two role to Hakkinen and help him in his world championship campaign. This he did in a limited fashion. At Hockenheim both he and Hakkinen got a comfortable 1-2. Comfortable, but not outstanding. The McLaren's appeared to be going well off their true pace in order not to strain the Mercedes engines. Coulthard had a slight chance of winning this race. This ended when he made one of those pit stop errors he is prone to and overshot his pit bay. At Austria after a disastrous start he drove a brilliant race taking the full advantage of the superiority of the McLaren to finish 2nd ahead of Schumacher - himself having had problems. He failed to stop Schumacher at Hungary though. Here the German drove possibly the greatest race of his life. Coulthard could not give any response. Though he was right to a certain extent when he said the McLaren team had got the tactics wrong, you need only look at the podium afterwards. After a withering race Coulthard, sweat dripping from his face, looked out of breath and out of luck. Schumacher ever fit had barely a bead of sweat on him and was punching holes in the clouds. At Spa, after Hakkinen had spun out, Coulthard disappeared in the spray. He played no real part of the race until that fateful collision. He hadn't made it easy for Schumacher to lap him, and he lifted the throttle in the wrong place of the track. Schumacher never stood a chance of seeing him and ended up with three wheels on his wagon, while Coulthard was feeling a little without wings. Schumacher overreacted as all the top drivers have in the past with the adrenaline pumping so highly - Nigel Mansell wringing Senna's neck at Spa is one example. Coulthard seemed to take Schumacher outburst to heart. Eventually though, the German apologised for his rant and things appeared to settle. Then the Italian Grand Prix arrived, where everybody expected this to be a McLaren walkover. I wasn't so sure. Monza is not a test to the tyres but it can be brutal on the brakes and exerting on the engine. Gone may be days of the Ferrari V12's rampaging down the straights here but then Ferrari did have one thing on their side - reliability. With the Ferraris now competing almost exactly on a par with the performance of the silver arrows, Coulthard and Hakkinen would not be allowed to play their pacing game as they had done at Hockenheim. True to form the Mercedes behind Coulthard gave way in spectacular fashion on the 17th lap. He could justifiably say it was bad luck and that the race was his but the fact still remained that nobody was surprised at what happened. McLaren were paying dearly for living on the bleeding edge of technology. Also notable was that the Mercedes had given way on the 17th lap again. When pushed, the Mercedes V10's seem to be only able to go 17 or 18 laps before they start to give way. So what of Coulthard's season? Well, it was clear at Nurburgring that if Irvine is representative of the Ferrari's true competitiveness and that Schumacher is what makes the difference, then so too does Coulthard represent the competitiveness of the McLaren and that it is Hakkinen that makes the difference. Of course it is not as straight forward as this. At Nurburgring though, it was about two men. Hakkinen and Schumacher. Coulthard finished in an unremarkable 3rd position some distance behind Schumacher. My biggest disappointment this season has been in the way Coulthard has continually droned on about how unlucky he is and how he was going to beat Schumacher and then his team-mate Hakkinen. On a level of bad luck, yes he has suffered from bad luck, but then so too has his team-mate suffered from bad luck, almost as much if not slightly more than Coulthard. He certainly can't put incidents such as Silverstone down to bad luck. Spinning off was his fault and nobody else's. Yes, he should have been on full wets, but then Schumacher also raced only on intermediates. If he really is going to beat the likes of Schumacher then he must be able to rise to this level. Almost practically walk on water. Is he really better than Schumacher and Hakkinen and capable of beating them? Simply put, he is not. Hakkinen, now knowing that he can win has completely overshadowed him this season. It is most telling in that it is Schumacher, in the until recently inferior Ferrari, that is fighting it out head to head with Hakkinen for the biggest prize. Coulthard can only take consolation in that he is ahead of Irvine. He reminds me of the old adage about the fighter that talks a good fight but does not deliver. If he wishes to do better next season perhaps he should get his head down to the actual racing and not so much of the talking and psychological wars. Psychology-wise Hakkinen is very sturdy and Schumacher? Schumacher is the master of Psychology so you will not put him off. Perhaps most of all he should not say he can beat Hakkinen and Schumacher until he has actually beaten them. Jackie Stewart - Coulthard's mentor! - perhaps said it best in Coulthard's biography, 'The Flying Scotsman', by Jim Dunn: "If you are convinced mentally about your own superiority you are disregarding the most serious threat, namely the competitive element of your adversary... I would far rather put my opposition up on a pedestal and be satisfied when I have shot at them successfully. It has no benefit at all for you to have a false impression of your own talent. You can kid a lot of people, but you can't kid yourself." Perhaps this is the crux of the matter. Coulthard was always considered very down to earth - the people who supported him in one way or another during his junior years in motor sport testify to this. However, when he joined the big time, and he moved to Monaco where all the other big timers live, perhaps he started to lose his way. For Coulthard to come out fighting next year he will have to take a serious look at the way he approached this season. Perhaps he under-estimated his team-mate. Certainly, next year he will have to work harder. Only time will tell.

DAVID COULTHARD, BIOGRAPHY Date of birth: 27th March 1971 GP-Starts: 73 Current age: 27 years Poles: 7 Place of birth: Twynholm, Scotland Wins: 4 Residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco GP-Points: 169 Height: 1,82 m Weight: 76 kg Marital status: single Learned profession: business studies Hobbies: motor racing, cinema Sports: golf, running, swimming Favourite music: "most types except rap" Favourite singers: Queen, Phil Collins Favourite food: Italian pasta Favourite drink: tea, Highland Spring mineral water Dream: "to be F1 Champion" Start of racing career: 1983 in Karting First racing car: Formula Ford 1600 First success: Scottish Junior Kart Champion in 1983 Most memorable experience: "Winning the F3 Grand Prix in Macau in 1991, driving a Formula One car for the first time at the age of 19 and my 1st win in F1." Career: 1982-1988 Karting 1983-1985 Scottish Junior Kart Champion 1986-1988 Scottish Open Kart Champion 1989 British Formula Ford 1600, Champion 1990 British Vauxhall Lotus Series, 4th, GM Lotus Euroseries, 5th ; McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year 1991 British F3 Championship runner-up, Winner Macau F3 Grand Prix and European, F3 Marlboro Masters 1992 F3000/Paul Stewart Racing, 9th 1993 F3000/Pacific Racing, 3rd Le Mans 24h race with Jaguar, won the GT class 1994 F1 Williams-Renault, 14 points, 8th 1995 F1 Williams-Renault, 49 points, 3rd, 1st win 1996 F1 McLaren-Mercedes, 18 pts.,7th 1997 F1 McLaren-Mercedes, 2 wins, 36 points, 3rd 1998 F1 McLaren-Mercedes, 1 win, 58 points, 3rd after 15 rounds

Mark Andrews	© 1998 Atlas Formula One Journal.
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