David Coulthard

This Twynholm-born Scot began his career in junior British karting in 1983. He competed in the beginner category for five years and won several championship titles during that time. In 1989, he switched to formula racing and immediately won the title in the British Formula Ford 1600. A year later, he competed in both the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries and the British Formula Vauxhall Lotus, placing in the top five in both championships.

Coulthard's breakthrough continued in 1991, when he was involved in the British Formula 3 Championship and, after a competitive season, only had to admit defeat to the Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in the final classification. In the two years that followed, the Scot stayed in the International Formula 3000 Championship, which he finished in third place in the drivers' championship in 1993. By this time he had already gained his first experience of Formula 1, in test drives in a Benetton and as a regular test and reserve driver with Team Williams.

His chance came in 1994, when he was allowed to take over Ayrton Senna's cockpit at Williams for eight Grand Prix races following his tragic death in an accident. At the Portuguese Grand Prix, he was able to make a big impression for the first time with a second place. Although Coulthard had already signed with McLaren for the following season, Williams insisted on him fulfilling the contract, and the Scot completed his first full Formula 1 season in 1995. Although he did not finish in eight of the 17 races, he finished on the podium in all but one of the remaining races. The highlight of the season was his first victory, which he achieved in Portugal.

In 1996, he started driving for McLaren-Mercedes as Mika Häkkinen's team-mate and finished the year in seventh place in the drivers' championship, with a clear points gap to the Finn. The following year, he took the first victory for McLaren-Mercedes at the season opener in Melbourne, the first win for a Formula 1 Silver Arrow since 1955. Later in the season, he secured another Grand Prix victory at Monza in the MP4-12 and finished third in the Drivers' World Championship behind Williams drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

In the 1998 season, everything again went in Häkkinen's favour, who won the title in the superior MP4-13 ahead of Michael Schumacher, leaving the third-placed Scot well behind with almost twice as many championship points. The year 1999 was similar, with Häkkinen defending his title and the Scot having to settle for fourth place in the drivers' championship.

In the following year, Coulthard was able to stand up to the Finn more strongly and was placed third in the Formula 1 World Championship, just a few points behind his team-mate. in 2001, in a season dominated by Ferrari, the Scotsman succeeded in making his mark as Michael Schumacher's only challenger for a long time, but in the end still took second place in the championship, albeit far ahead of Häkkinen, who only finished fifth.

After the Finn's retirement, Coulthard became number one at McLaren-Mercedes, but for 2002 he got Kimi Räikkönen as his team-mate, who was also very ambitious and not very approachable. The Scot was still able to keep the young talent at bay as the season progressed and finished the year in fifth place in the final standings.

In 2003, Räikkönen was runner-up, while Coulthard only finished seventh. The 2004 season turned out to be a complete disappointment, as neither the MP4-19 nor its evolutionary model, the MP4-19B, proved to be top-of-the-range cars. However, Räikkönen kept the flag flying with a single Grand Prix win in Belgium, while the Scot could at best finish in the upper midfield, ending the season in tenth position in the drivers' standings.

For 2005, Coulthard signed with Team Red Bull and, until his retirement from Formula One at the end of the 2008 season, his best finish was tenth place, which he achieved in the 2007 drivers' championship.

For 2010, the Scot was once again motivated to compete in the DTM. At Mücke Motorsport, he drove a 2008 AMG Mercedes C-Class DTM, with which he only managed to finish in the top ten once on unfamiliar terrain – at the last round of the season in Shanghai, he achieved eighth place and thus a championship point. The same result was also recorded for the 2011 DTM season, in which Coulthard once again drove a C-Class DTM pre-owned car.

The following year, however, he sat in the cockpit of a current AMG-Mercedes C-Coupé DTM with Team Mücke Motorsport and was able to finish among the top eight twice. Nevertheless, he was only in 15th place in the final standings with 14 points.

With the end of his DTM commitment, the now 41-year-old 13-time Grand Prix winner also declared his retirement from motorsport at the end of 2012. To this day, the Scot remains closely associated with the brand with the star and appears as a Brand Ambassador for Mercedes-Benz.