David Coulthard
Formula One champion David Coulthard was a racing sensation. Breaking career records and winning countless races, David was one of the best of his generation. Now a pundit for Forumla One coverage, David is still very much involved in the sport. An excellent keynote speaker on the topics of motivation, teamwork and leadership, David can apply his peak performance skills from the racing world to a business audience.
Former Formula One racing driver David Coulthard has become one of the UK’s most recognisable sporting commentators and a keynote speaker who inspires motivation, teamwork and leadership.
Dominating the junior Formula Ford categories in 1989 in the UK, David became the first ever recipient of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award for young drivers. His reputation and success grew, and by 1991 he was embroiled in a major contest with future Formula 1 rival Rubens Barrichello for the British Formula 3 Championship, and achieved victory at the prestigious Macau F3 Grand Prix.
Williams took him on as a test driver, and he competed in eight grands prix for the team, eventually becoming a full-time F1 driver in 1995, the year in which he won the Portuguese Grand Prix. His first of 13 wins in a career spanning 15 seasons.
David moved to McLaren, where he scored 12 of his 13 grand prix wins and 51 of his 62 podium finishes.
In 2005 he moved to the newly formed Red Bull Racing team, and retired in 2008 after notching up 535 points, making him the highest scoring British driver of all time. David stayed on as a consultant to Red Bull and also acts as an ambassador for Mercedes-Benz.
David is now a BBC TV Formula One commentator while also being a team consultant for Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso.
He returned to racing as an active driver in the DTM series for 2010, piloting a 2008 Mercedes-Benz C-Class for Mücke Motorsport.
David’s preferred speaking format is as a double-act, a content-rich presentation with Mark Gallagher, but he is also happy to participate in a moderated presentation with a client’s host, or to deliver a solo speech combined with Q&A.
Speaking Topics
- Motivation - How to succeed in the high performance, high pressure world of Formula One, and consistently reach peak performance levels
- Teamwork - How a top Formula One team enables drivers, technicians and engineers, and sponsors to work together to create a winning team.
- Leadership - Examples of great leadership that David has observed in his Formula One career and lessons he has learned.