Author: Emeli Dean

After 15 years in the Formula One the British race driver announces his end of career when the present season finishes. With 37 years he is the oldest race driver who is active in the Formula One right now. The Austrian will spend his last season with the Red Bull Racing team with who he is under contract since 2005.

He started his career as almost every other race driver in the go-kart sport. Already with 11 years he was the unbeatable Scottish Junior-Kart-Champion until he piled in the British Formula Ford 1600 in 1989. Also in this league he showed proof of his skills and achieved the title already in the first year of participation. In the 90s he switched to the Formula 3000 which was brought into being as the successor of the until then existing Formula Two. Unfortunately; he was not very successful in this league but in 1994 he became a test driver of the Williams-Renault team and a few months later, after Brazilian’s Ayrton Senna’s tragic accidental death, Coulthard took up his place.

This is how his career at the Formula One started. He spent two years with Williams-Renault, nine years for McLaren Mercedes and the past four years for his actual team Red Bull. Unfortunately; his dream to become world champions did never come true although he is with 533 points on the fourth spot in the eternal points chart behind Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. He achieved his best position in 2001 as he became runner up behind Schumacher. Besides, he achieved four times the third place (1995, 1997, 1998, 2000).

He announced his decision just before the Grand Prix of Great Britain on Sunday, June 29th 2008. "I wanted to make this decision as long as I am still having fun in my profession", said the Scotsman. He will remain faithful to his team as a consultant just as Michael Schumacher to Ferrari. Besides, he wants to participate actively in test and developmental work.

His successor is believed to be the 21-year-old German driver Sebastian Vettel who drives currently for the Red Bull nursing team Toro Rosso. After the successful victory of the Formula BMW Championship in 2004 with 18 of 20 race wins his name was well-known by every journalist as the new German super talent.

How Coulthard’s life will continue beyond the Formula One is still not been said. There are speculations that there have been negotiations with the British television broadcaster BBC as Coulthard could possibly get a job as a sports commentator in 2009. Besides, Coulthard said in an interview that he is open for future engagements in another form in the motorsports section. He will definitely not hang his helmet up as yet.

Not so long ago we heard similar words already when Michael Schumacher said goodbye to the Formula One. Since then we could see him already participating on several motorsports races. The quitting is just not that easy when somebody is used to the Formula One’s driving and living speed. We will probably keep hearing more often from our former Formula One stars.

About the Author:

Emeli Dean is a high-ranking writer on sports for the sports betting industry.

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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Formula1 - Coulthard Announces His Retirement