Coulthard: “I spoke to Todt about the possibility of driving for Ferrari” | FormulaPassion

The love story with McLaren

In a fifteen-year career in Formula 1, David Coulthard he spent most of these in McLaren, when he came to Woking Court in 1996 to remain there until and including 2004. The role of Mika Hakkinen's teammate in the world championship challenge between 'Flying Finn' and Michael Schumacher between the end of the 90s and 2000s, and the controversial contact that occurred with the latter in the 1998 Belgian GP (with a near brawl between the two in the pits after the episode on the track) had made people think of anything but a hypothetical landing place for the Scotsman in Maranello. A market operation labeled as science fiction, or almost. Yet, the possibility of one day being able to see Coulthard in the red tracksuit was not so remote.

The contact with Ferrari

The 52-year-old himself admitted it years later in the podcast Formula for Success. It was Ferrari itself, through the then Team Principal Jean Todtto make a contractual offer to the McLaren driver, with the two having the opportunity to discuss: “I did it – He admitted – I met Todt in Paris, in his apartment, for talk about the possibility of driving for Ferrari“.

The reason for the 'no'

However, the negotiation almost immediately ended in stalemate, thanks to some contractual conditions that Coulthard refused: “My memory of contract offered he was basically as a number two but, despite whatever conclusions one may now draw about my career, at that moment I would not have signed anything other than equal opportunities – he underlined – in essence, if I had been fourth and Michael fifth, I would have had to step aside, even if I had been in the lead. I couldn't accept signing up for this.”

The role of McLaren

In addition to these conditions, Coulthard also refused to move to Ferrari due to the 'equal opportunities' clauses proposed to the Scotsman by Ron Dennisdespite being on a team with Mika Hakkinen: “All credit goes to Ron and McLaren, because the contract they offered me it has always been equal opportunity – he added – even though there was a clause that said you had to accept the instructions of the team principal, under any circumstances, in principle I was given an opportunity fair and equal to work and try to see how much I could develop my skills. Ferrari was the only team I spoke to during my nine years at McLaren“.