David Coulthard

**David Marshall Coulthard** (born 27 March 1971) is a British racing driver from Scotland. He is currently the test driver for Williams.

## Early life and career

Coulthard was born on 27 March 1971 in Twynholm, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, one of three children to road haulier Duncan Coulthard and Elizabeth Joyce Coulthard née Marshall. His family was connected to motor racing: his grandfather competed in the Monte Carlo Rally and his father drove karts, becoming Scottish National Champion. From an early age motorsport was where his interest lay, later listing Formula One World Champions Jim Clark, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost as his childhood heroes. Coulthard was educated at Kirkcudbright Academy, achieving eight O-grades.

Coulthard began karting when his father presented him with his first kart for his eleventh birthday. Having won several local karting championships including the Scottish Junior Kart Championship and the Scottish Kart Championship, Coulthard participated in events further down the UK, including title victory in the Cumbria Kart Racing Club Championship in 1985. Coulthard graded each race he entered on a scale of 1 to 10, with an additional column headlined "Performance". He later gave credit to David Leslie, senior and junior for allowing his career to develop.

In 1989, Coulthard made the transition from karting to car racing. It is often erroneously claimed that he won the British Formula Ford Championship that season, however this is not the case. Coulthard actually won the lesser P&O Ferries Formula Ford 1600 Junior championship.

He became the first recipient of the McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year award, which allowed him to test a McLaren Formula One car. In 1990, Coulthard travelled to Belgium to compete in the EFDA Nations Cup for Great Britain and was partnered with Nicky Hart, where they finished 9th. During the year, Coulthard was selected by Vauxhall Motorsport to race in a one-off appearance in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Brands Hatch, where he finished 13th. He did not return to the series after suffering a leg injury in a Formula Vauxhall race at Spa-Francorchamps.

For 1991, Coulthard signed with Paul Stewart Racing to compete in the British Formula 3 series, taking five victories and finishing second in the Championship behind Rubens Barrichello. Coulthard won the Macau Grand Prix and the Masters of Formula Three. He later travelled to the Fuji Speedway to compete in the annual Formula Three Fuji Cup, taking pole position and finished second behind Jordi Gené.

In 1992, he moved to the International Formula 3000 series, where he suffered from a lack of competitiveness and finished ninth in the championship.

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 David Coulthard - Hall of Fame - Dumfries and Galloway. *Dumfries and Galloway Online*.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Aronsson, Erik (15 December 2011). David Coulthard - A passion for winning. *Evolution Online*. SKF Group.
3. ↑ Saward, Joe (1 September 1994). Interview – David Coulthard. *GrandPrix.com*. Inside F1, Inc..
4. ↑ Mclean, Kirk (30 September 2009). Allan McNish part 2. Queen of the South Football Club.
5. ↑ David Coulthard. DriverDB. Retrieved on July 31, 2021.
6. ↑ McLaren Autosport Award. *Autosport*. Haymarket Publications.
7. ↑ The Nations Cup. *Fastlines International*.
8. ↑ Hunston, Hugh (28 August 1999). Coulthard will have to push it to the limit one more time McLaren hope to keep up the 1-2 momentum but no special treatment for Hakkinen. *The Herald*. Newsquest.
9. ↑ Formula 3 Fuji Cup 1991 standings. driverdb.com.