David Coulthard compares the drivers of modern Formula 1 to his own active days: drivers used to have a completely different drive
Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard believes the current generation of drivers have lost the raw “anger and hunger” that characterized the sport in more dangerous eras. In the Up To Speed podcast, he reflects on the contrasts between his own active time (1994 to 2008) and today’s modern era.
“My generation drove in all weathers. You didn’t see anything, but you kept going until you hit something. Today, the world has evolved so much that races don’t even start because it’s too wet,” he says.
The now 55-year-old made his Formula 1 debut in 1994 with Williams. He had worked as a test driver for the team from Grove since 1993 and took over the cockpit after the death of Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
“I lived through a very dangerous era,” he says. “I lived through a time when my opportunity came because the greatest driver of this generation was killed. So let’s just say I think we had a real sense of what it meant if, firstly, you didn’t crash and, secondly, you were lucky enough to be in a position to win.”
“It all feels a bit like that – and now I’m getting into a certain territory … it feels a bit like everyone thinks their time [to win a world championship] will come. There’s no guarantee that your time will come.”
While the Scot stresses that Formula 1 is still a dangerous and technology-driven sport today, “but I think we’ve taken away certain elements of anger, hunger and fighting.”
“The drivers all seem to get on brilliantly, they all travel together and they all compare their cars: ‘Look at my Ferrari, look at my Lamborghini’,” says Coulthard.
“Part of that may well be because social media makes it impossible for them to celebrate their lives in public because there’s always someone with a phone camera at the ready.”.
