As well as competing in F3000, Coulthard was proving immensely valuable as a test driver. Succeeding
Mark Blundell and Damon Hill at
Williams, David was in the right place to inherit
Ayrton Senna's seat following the Brazilian's fatal accident at Imola in 1994. A part season - shared with former Williams star
Nigel Mansell - was enough to convince the team to hire him full-time for the 1995 season, alongside
Damon Hill.
A full season with one of the sport's leading teams was spoiled by illness, which restricted David to a single victory in Portugal. Nevertheless, a string of consistent finishes and near misses saw David finish third overall.
A move to
McLaren followed, but the team was still recovering through the post-Senna years which had made it the most successful team in
Formula One. The hard work put in by both Coulthard and team-mate Mika Hakkinen eventually returned the team to the sharp end of the grid, and netted David historic victories in Australia and Italy during the 1997 season.
In 1998, the McLaren team proved once-and-for-all that it was a force to be reckoned with in
F1, as Hakkinen went on to turn eight race wins into a championship crown. Coulthard, however, had a more trying season and, apart from taking victory in San Marino, he was called on to play second fiddle to his team-mate's championship challenge.
For 1999, McLaren retained the same driver line-up. Hakkinen's first words to Coulthard as he stepped from his championship-winning drive in Japan suggested that this season would be David's chance for glory, but it wasn't to be as the Scotsman suffered a combination of mechanical problems and the odd accident. He did win twice, however, at home in Britain and beating Hakkinen head-to-head at Spa to finish fourth in the title race.
