Mika Hakkinen has suggested that the reason his old team-mate
David Coulthard is still going in Formula 1 is because he remains fired-up by the desire to clinch the ultimate prize – the World Drivers' Championship trophy.
The Scot is now in his 15th season in the top flight, having made his grand prix debut with
Williams all the way back in the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix, in place of the tragically-killed
Ayrton Senna. He has since notched up no fewer than 13 victories, 61 podium finishes, 12 pole positions, 18 fastest laps and 527 points – making him the most successful British driver in terms of points in the sport's history and the fourth-most successful outright, behind only multiple champions
Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
Missing from his career CV, however, is the accolade he craves the most, even as
F1's oldest participant now at the age of 37 – the world championship laurels. Coulthard has five times finished inside the top three in the title chase.
“I'm surprised some drivers, like DC, can hang on for so long in
Formula 1,” 1998 and 1999 world champion Hakkinen – who partnered the now
Red Bull Racing ace at McLaren-Mercedes for six years from 1996 to 2001 – told the
Montreal Gazette. “On the other hand, I understand why, because if I had never won the championship I probably would still be there.
“The story's different for a lot of drivers, but for some, if you haven't reached your goal, you just keep going and going and going.”
The Finn walked away from the grand prix paddock at the age of just 33 at the end of the 2001 campaign. He insisted for him the decision had been a relatively straightforward one to make – not that he had been entirely devoid of second thoughts, he admitted…
“When I left Formula 1 it was not easy,” the 39-year-old recounted, “but it was a time when I didn't have the choice. I had to stop. I didn't have the motivation to continue at that level; I wouldn't have got the results I wanted to have.
