Seated in entrance of the RB7, Sebastian Vettel’s 2011 Components One title-winning automotive, David Coulthard turned again the clock. The 13-time retired F1 race winner reminisced burning the rubber within the firm of some “actually robust teammates”, the likes of Damon Hill and the “profitable machine Finns” Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen at McLaren.
Requested who among the many present lot the 51-year-old wish to race alongside, Coulthard picked Pink Bull’s F1 champion Max Verstappen.
“Not as a result of I feel I might beat him, however I’ve at all times wished to check myself from one of the best, not cover from one of the best,” Coulthard, again in Mumbai after 14 years for the Pink Bull Showrun the place he’ll drive the RB7 alongside the streets of Bandra on Sunday, mentioned. “I like success. I like dedication. I like work ethic.”
Traits which the Scotland-born Brit believes have been instrumental within the Dutch driver being the two-time champion. Verstappen, 25, has motorsport in his household; his father was an F1 driver and mom was into karting. “However he wasn’t gifted a route into F1. He needed to slog it out,” Coulthard mentioned.
“He is labored so arduous in his early profession. And repeatedly he’s proven that he is acquired that preventing spirit, that he’s not frightened by any competitor. His work ethic on the observe, together with pure expertise, has given him an edge over a number of his opponents.”
It additionally gave Pink Bull their first constructors’ title since 2014 final season, ending an eight-year dominance of Mercedes. Because the 1-2 sweep for Pink Bull by Verstappen and Sergio Perez on the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix confirmed, their success within the final two seasons promise to increase into this season. Coulthard, who drove for Pink Bull from 2005-08, reckoned it might not be a one-team cruise if the rivals step up of their backroom work.
“You could possibly see in Bahrain that Ferrari have been a bit faster on the straights. When it got here to qualifying, the pole place went to Pink Bull. Possibly on a circuit like Spa that will be totally different as a result of there are longer straights. The hole between the quickest automotive and the one which completed third was little or no in qualifying. It was larger within the race.
“What can the opposite groups do? Use that evaluation to know the place they should focus, after which unleash their inventive brainpower from their design workplace. There isn’t any magic. There isn’t any secrets and techniques.”
It’s a problem Mercedes are determined to resolve. Their struggles with the automotive got here to the fore once more in Bahrain and a annoyed Lewis Hamilton mentioned his inputs weren’t thought of for the 2023 engine. Coulthard felt the latest lull of the likes of Hamilton—the seven-time world champion didn’t win a race in 2022—and Fernando Alonso solely reiterates who has the higher hand within the man versus machine tussle.
“An important factor is the automotive, as a result of with out a nice automotive, an incredible design workforce, irrespective of who you’re as a driver you will not win a Grand Prix,” he mentioned. “Possibly Lewis is an instance of that. Alonso, an incredible champion of the previous, hasn’t gained a Grand Prix for some time. After which the motive force makes a distinction. In Pink Bull, Sergio Perez is a really proficient driver, however there are file books which inform us that he lacks that half a tenth, or no matter quantity it’s, that Max has. The identical means I lacked that half a tenth relative to Mika and Kimi. Details do not lie.”