David Coulthard: Age, weight, height, wife, early life, career of the former British F1 driver

David Marshall Coulthard MBE is a British former racing driver who is now a presenter, analyst, and journalist.

Early life 

Coulthard was born on March 27, 1971, in Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, to road haulier Duncan Coulthard and Elizabeth Joyce Coulthard née Marshall. His grandfather competed in the Monte Carlo Rally, while his father drove karts, earning Scottish National Champion.

His love in motorsport began at a young age, and he later named Formula One World Champions Jim Clark, Nigel Mansell, and Alain Prost as his heroes. Coulthard attended Kirkcudbright Academy, where he earned eight O Level awards.

Career

Coulthard began karting on his eleventh birthday when his father gave him his first kart. After winning many local karting championships, including the Scottish Junior Kart Championship and the Scottish Kart Championship, Coulthard competed in events across the UK, including the Cumbria Kart Racing Club Championship in 1985.

Coulthard evaluated each race he entered on a scale of 1 to 10, with a separate column labelled “Performance” Later, he credited David Leslie, senior and junior, for allowing his career to flourish.

Coulthard switched from karting to auto racing in 1989. It is frequently stated incorrectly that he won the British Formula Ford Championship that season, however, this is not the case. Coulthard did, however, win the P&O Ferries Formula Ford 1600 Junior championship.

Formula One career

Williams (1994–95)

Throughout 1993 and 1994, Coulthard was the official test driver for the Williams Grand Prix Engineering team. Following the death of Ayrton Senna in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, a racing seat became available. Coulthard was called by team principal Frank Williams to test the Williams vehicle at the Jerez circuit for four days, forcing him to miss a Formula 3000 race in Pau.

Coulthard, making his debut in Spain, qualified eighth and was on track to score a point when his engine failed 34 laps from the finish. He then earned his first points with a fifth-place finish in Canada.

Due to pressure from engine supplier Renault, Williams dropped Coulthard for the following race in France, allowing 1992 Drivers’ Champion Nigel Mansell to make a one-off appearance. Williams and Coulthard’s relationship was damaged as a result of the transfer.

McLaren (1996–2004)

Coulthard joined seasoned driver Mika Häkkinen at McLaren for 1996, believing there was a potential of winning races, however, a World Championship push was unlikely until 1997 or 1998.

His season got off to a rocky start in Australia, as he developed a throttle problem and collided with Jordan driver Martin Brundle on the opening lap. In Brazil, Coulthard spun out and finished outside the points in Argentina.

Coulthard, on the other hand, finished third at the Nürburgring and led the race at San Marino before suffering a hydraulic breakdown. He followed that up with a second-place finish in the rainy race at Monaco before collapsing on the first lap of the wet race in Spain.

Before the Canadian Grand Prix, Coulthard agreed to a contract extension with McLaren that would keep him at the team until 1998.

2004 season

Coulthard started the 2004 season with McLaren knowing he’d be out before the end of the year. He asserted, however, that he had the support of his team and promised that his strategy for 2004 will be more aggressive.

Coulthard had a solid start: despite being behind the pace in the first race in Australia, he finished ninth, and in the following race in Malaysia, he finished sixth. Both McLaren drivers were forced to retire from the Bahrain race after fifty laps due to engine issues.

Coulthard did not score in the following four races, which included retirements in Monaco and Nürburgring. He was able to earn points at the next two races in Canada and the United States.

Red Bull (2005–08)

Following Red Bull’s acquisition of the Jaguar team, Coulthard confirmed on December 17, 2004, that he would quit McLaren to join Red Bull for the 2005 season. He agreed to a one-year contract worth a reported £1.8 million to drive alongside Austrian Christian Klien. Coulthard was offered a testing position at Ferrari, but he declined because he wanted to stay in a race seat.

Coulthard was able to finish the next five races, albeit outside of the points-scoring places. He finished his career with a seventh-place finish in Singapore.

Coulthard’s Red Bull RB4 was painted in the colours of “Wings for Life” a charity committed to raising awareness of spinal cord injuries, for his farewell race in Brazil.

When his car was damaged by Williams driver Nico Rosberg and Coulthard’s car was propelled into the path of Rosberg’s teammate Kazuki Nakajima, he was unable to finish the race.

Records

He debuted in Formula One with Williams in 1994, replacing the late Ayrton Senna. The following year, he won his maiden Grand Prix in Portugal before joining McLaren for the 1996 season. After winning two races in 1997, he finished third in the World Drivers’ Championship in 1998.

In 1999 and 2000, he won five races before coming second in the Drivers’ Championship to Michael Schumacher in 2001. He won two additional races in 2002 and 2003 before leaving McLaren at the end of 2004. He joined Red Bull in 2005 and won the team’s first podium a year later. Coulthard announced his retirement from Formula One racing after 2008.

World Championship career

Personal life

Coulthard has lived in Monaco for some time and also has houses in London, Belgium, and Switzerland. He owns many luxury hotels in the United Kingdom and was previously the owner of the Columbus Hotel Monaco in Monaco’s Fontvieille.

On May 2, 2000, while flying in a friend’s Learjet to Côte d’Azur International Airport in Nice, the plane encountered engine failure and crashed while trying an emergency landing at Lyon-Satolas Airport in France.

Murray’s personal pilot David Saunders and co-pilot Dan Worley died, as did Coulthard’s then-girlfriend, American model Heidi Wichlinski, and personal trainer/bodyguard Andy Matthews. Coulthard and Wichlinski’s relationship terminated before the start of the 2001 season, which was followed by a series of erroneous newspaper claims about supposed encounters with other women.

On June 2, 2006, Coulthard married Karen Minier, a Belgian Formula One correspondent for French television channel TF1. The couple intended to marry “soon”.Dayton Minier Coulthard, Coulthard and Minier’s first child, was born on November 20, 2008.

Coulthard is an advocate for the organisation Wings For Life, which helps people with spinal injuries. In the 2010 Birthday Honours, Coulthard was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to motorsport.

Coulthard represents Mercedes-Benz as a Brand Ambassador. He worked on the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG’s development. He owns a midnight blue (904G) 1971 Mercedes-Benz W113 280 SL that was built on his birthday.

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