Coulthard: It's the right time to quit

Friday 4th July 2008

David Coulthard feels it is the right time to bring the curtain down on his distinguished F1 career after confirming he will retire at the end of the season.

The 37-year-old Red Bull Racing driver, who has won 13 grands prix in a 236 races to date, announced his decision ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix.

"I've had a growing feeling that this year is the right time for me to make it my last year in Formula One," Coulthard revealed in a press conference at Silverstone.

"It's a good time. I'll be 38 next year, and nothing last forever. I've enjoyed my racing and I think it's the right time."

Coulthard's most competitive period in Formula One came driving the Adrian Newey-designed McLarens of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In that period, Coulthard twice won the British and Monaco grands prix but failed to mount a concerted title challenge.

In both 1998 and 1999, Coulthard was forced to play second fiddle to Mika Hakkinen, who won back-to-back Championships in a car that was the class of the field, but the Scot insists he has no regrets.

He said: "I've always had a fairly realistic view of the career of a sportsman - how long it may last and the opportunities that are there for you. I feel fulfilled in the opportunities I had.

"I won't be looking back thinking, 'if only I had a championship-winning car'. I did have a World Championship-winning car - I just didn't win it. But I won a number of grands prix and had a lot of fun along the way."

Coulthard's break in Formula One came in the wake of Ayrton Senna's death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

The Scot was promoted from his test driving duties at Williams to replace the Brazilian, making his debut at the Spanish Grand Prix. He moved to McLaren in 1996, and stayed with the team for nine seasons.

Since joining Red Bull in 2005, Coulthard has spearheaded the rise of the team financed by billionaire businessman Dietrich Mateschitz, scoring the team's first point and its first podium.

"I'm still competitive with the machinery I've got," added Coulthard, has scored 62 podiums and 533 championship points to date.

"After 15 years, I'm clearly not going to battle for a World Championship, I'm unlikely to win another grand prix unless something remarkable happens this year, and I feel somewhat fulfilled in the role I've played at Red Bull. I've helped the team grow and seen the team move forward."

Coulthard will remain with Red Bull beyond the end of the season in a consultancy capacity, an arrangement that will see the Scot continue to test for the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

"The journey I've started with Red Bull will continue, but not as a grand prix driver, and that's something I'm comfortable with," he said. "Part of the plan is to drive the car from time to time."

When asked whether his motivation would suffer between now and his final race at Interlagos in Brazil on November 2, Coulthard replied: "If I thought that then today I would be stepping to one side.

"That's the good thing about making the decision in that I have all the motivation and am enjoying the racing. I would hate to find myself in the situation where I wake up and think, 'I don't want to go racing today'.

"The sport's in good hands, with the other, younger British drivers."

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