Coulthard To Retire After Last Lap In Brazil
Jul 03, 2008
Team Red Bull
With his home race just days away, Red Bull’s David Coulthard has announced he is to retire from competitive Formula One racing at the end of the 2008 season. Coulthard, who started his F1 career back in 1994, will continue to work for the team in a new testing and development role.
“I will remain actively involved in the sport as a consultant to Red Bull Racing focusing on testing and development of the cars,” explained the Scot in a statement. “I have an open mind as to whether or not I will compete again in the future, in some other form of motorsport, so I am definitely not hanging up my helmet!
“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. 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 13 F1 victories at Silverstone and I am a member of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, which hosts this event.
“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.”
Coulthard has won 13 grands prix in a career that started with Williams in 1994, and his greatest success came with McLaren when he ended the 2001 season as overall runner-up to Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher.
He last won a grand prix five years ago in Australia, for McLaren, and has been struggling in midfield with the emergent Red Bull squad after signing to drive for them at the start of 2005. Last month he drove their Renault-engined car to a strong third place in the Montreal race behind the BMW Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld.
“I will be 38 next year and nothing lasts forever. I have enjoyed my racing and now is the right time,” added the veteran of 236 races, more than any other British driver in the 58 years of the championship.
Coulthard, who is expected to be replaced by Germany’s Sebastian Vettel, said he had also not ruled out competing in the future in some other form of motorsport.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner paid tribute to his driver as “a consummate professional”.
“He has demonstrated that he is a real team player, a fact reinforced by the statistic that he has only driven for two other F1 teams in his career,” he added.
“His retirement brings to a close not just his career as a grand prix racing driver but also a chapter in the history of Formula One, if one considers the changes the sport has been through while he has been involved with it.”
