Ask Scotland’s David Coulthard about his first British Grand Prix at Silverstone and his brow flickers slightly with exasperation. He had a spectacular 272km/h spin at Bridge corner preparing for the 1994 race, but that was topped for embarrassment when he twice stalled his Williams-Renault on the grid and was moved to the back after failing to get away at the start of the second formation lap.
The young Scot then overtook four cars before the first corner only to spin and drop to the tail of the field.
It took him another five years finally to master this high-speed circuit. In 1999 and 2000 he scored consecutive victories in front of his home crowd at the wheel of a McLaren-Mercedes and he looked on course for a hat-trick in 2001 before tangling with Jarno Trulli’s Jordan coming out of the first corner.
Coulthard believes Lewis Hamilton, the world championship leader, will on his first Formula One outing at Silverstone this weekend become the next McLaren driver to achieve a home victory.
Yet while the 22-year-old has received great praise for the dazzling start to his debut season in Formula One, Coulthard’s approval of the new boy is tempered by a realistic appreciation that motor racing can be as capricious as it can be disappointing.
”Expectations are obviously high and he’s got to be one of the favourites to win it,” said Coulthard, who drives a Red Bull Renault in this ninth round of the title chase.
”With so much history attached to motorsport in the United Kingdom, it’s fair and reasonable to expect a British driver to win. It would be fantastic if Lewis did do it. He has been flawless. He hasn’t made any mistakes that I can see and I’m someone that admires success. I’m not jealous. If someone is committed, works hard and delivers, then I applaud it. His start has been phenomenal.”
Coulthard is a traditionalist with a firm grounding in motor-racing history and is proud that he has won races at Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps and Monaco. His first visit to the British Grand Prix was in 1990 when he was camping down at Stowe corner and watched with hypnotic fascination as the Ferraris of Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost came shimmering out of the low mist during the race-morning warm-up.
”The Brazilian driver, Roberto Moreno, broke down right in front of me,” he said, ”but I had a scooter and took him all the way back to the paddock. We got right in through the gates and I remember thinking ‘I’m here’ but then I got chucked out.”
That experience as a fledgling race fan helped shaped Coulthard’s thinking when he himself became a professional driver. He rejects the notion that Formula One drivers are too spoiled and cosseted and do not make sufficient efforts to bond with the autograph-hunting race goers, ostensibly the foot soldiers who help pay their salary.
”I sometimes don’t think that people realise just what a time-intensive business this is,” he said. ”There is a time and a place for everything.”
As far as Silverstone’s configuration is concerned, Coulthard is a huge fan, believing it is crucial that the contract for the British Grand Prix is continued beyond 2009. ”I think the first half of the lap — through Copse, Becketts and down through Stowe — is as good as any circuit anywhere in the world.
”The second half is pretty much like anywhere else but you’ve obviously got to have slower sections because, if you didn’t, then none of the spectators would ever see the cars.”
He added: ”When I think of Silverstone, I don’t think of it in terms of access or whether or not the media centre is up to scratch. I just regard the circuit as a unique driving challenge, very much as Monaco is in its own way.
”I also think that it’s important to remember where Silverstone sits in the history of the sport as well as the fact that it’s one of the really challenging high-speed circuits. When people criticise the facilities at Silverstone, all I can say is that we go to Canada and Brazil — and those circuits are dumps, so I just don’t get it.”
For the moment, however, whether Hamilton uses the backdrop of Silverstone to score his third grand prix victory on Sunday, Coulthard seems certain the young Englishman will change, given time, every bit as much as the track he will race on.
That assessment is in no way triggered by any cynicism on the part of the oldest driver in the Formula One field, merely a reflection of how a battle-hardened veteran views the unfolding landscape.
”Whenever a new driver starts, everyone says they’re always so mature, down-to-earth, level-headed and approachable,” he said with a wry grin spreading across his face. ”They’re proud that they still fly EasyJet, but in three years from now he’ll be less approachable, more distant and with his own private jet.
”You cannot expect someone to remain the same with all the media attention, public recognition, and from somebody having £2,50 in his Post Office account to having millions of dollars sloshing around.”
Coulthard paused momentarily, before adding: ”That journey is something all of us have gone through and it will be interesting to see how Lewis deals with that. But all the evidence suggests he will deal with it very well.” — Â