Of course he's good and won grand prixs. But in 14 years and 247 races, he only won 13 and got podium 62 times. Decent enough but no WDC. Was he a victim of subpar cars or did he just not have that gift of greatness, the likes of which Hamilton, Vettel and Button have, that would ever have won him a WDC?
Was David Coulthard a good driver?
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Is he still the most successful F1 driver to never win a championship, or has the recent change in the points structure accelerated someone past him?
Edit: Yep, Massa, Barrichello and Webber are ahead of him now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...st_career_points_without_being_World_Champion
Edit: Yep, Massa, Barrichello and Webber are ahead of him now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...st_career_points_without_being_World_Champion
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That's exactly my point. He obviously didn't have that je ne sais quoi to win a whole championship. Just goes to show how difficult it really is to be a world champ, let alone do it twice, thrice or seven times!
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It's what I've taken to referring to as "Scottish Sportsmanship". Seriously, Couldthard was one of the best F1 drivers never to win a WDC. Montgomerie is one was the best golfers to never win a major. And don't even get me started on Andy Murray.
I'll give credit to Coulthard though as a co-presenter, he's never stuck for an answer when Jake asks him questions, often off the cuff by the looks of it. And he answers clearly and with great detail, he definitely knows his ****. He's even got a sense of humour I've noticed, definitely a bit less bland than he used to be.
definitely a bit less bland than he used to be.
Was he good? He was better than good, but didn't have the mercenary streak or self made luck you need to become a world champion. Mika also got favoured at McLaren. You don't drive for Ron Dennis for 9 years by being subpar - multiple 3rd place WDC finishes, plus a 2nd place one year are a testament to this.
OK, so the numbers don't look great however he was driving his entire F1 career against Schumacher and Barrichello and for significant periods against drivers like Hakkinen, Alonso and Raikkonen.
OK, so the numbers don't look great however he was driving his entire F1 career against Schumacher and Barrichello and for significant periods against drivers like Hakkinen, Alonso and Raikkonen.
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Well he did depart McLaren (very plain, functional and serious team image) for Red Bull (very fun, relaxed, exciting, extrovert team image).Leaving McLaren was the best thing he ever done as a personality
Well he did depart McLaren (very plain, functional and serious team image) for Red Bull (very fun, relaxed, exciting, extrovert team image).
This is the reason why I think Hamilton should take Webber's seat.
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But this is the Lewis Hamilton who, as a young child, told Ron Dennis he'd be driving McLaren F1 cars when he grew up. Not Ferrari, Williams or Benetton. Hamilton would probably earn more money at Red Bull and have a lot less PR work to do but, if it ever happens, Red Bull would not operate the way it seems Lewis needs an F1 team to operate; solely for him. Not whilst Vettel is at Red Bull. Perhaps if Alonso wins another title or two for Ferrari and retires with Perez and Vettel replacing Alonso and Massa could Lewis make Red Bull his own team. Look at Lewis since Button came along and showed McLaren they have two race winning, title contending drivers and not just one. Lewis hasn't done as well as he should have done, perhaps because McLaren divide their attention between Lewis and Button and not just concentrate on Lewis and use Button as they did Heikki, as a rear gunner.
So maybe Lewis should take Webber's RBR seat but a) would Vettel let Lewis into his team?, b) would Red Bull want Lewis there to destablise a team built around Vettel?, c) would Lewis really leave McLaren? For me, Lewis voluntarily leaving McLaren for either Ferrari or Red Bull would be like Michael Schumacher signing for Williams instead of Ferrari in 1996 or signing for McLaren in 1998, it'd be one heck of a shock and totally unexpected.
He's even got a sense of humour I've noticed,
he never has been bland, just his "sense of humour" never really leant itself well to the camera/daytime television
Always been a really good solid driver, came very close to the championship one year if i remember correctly, but never really had that something special to pull it out and take the title
always be a firm favourite of mine in the paddock, you need a cheeky jock to keep things interesting
I think the key is if Hamilton genuinely needs a whole team focused around him. I don't think he does. I think what he needs is a supportive group of people around him to deal with everything so all he has to worry about is driving the car. I think RBR could offer this.
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DC was always a good racing driver. Just not great, or great enough to win a world title. I always thought he was Mika's equal between 1995 and 1997 until Jerez 1997 where McLaren and Williams arranged the result to ensure JV got the points he needed to win the title. From then on, such as Melbourne 1998, DC was just massively unlucky. Had he won the first race of 1998 history might have been just a bit different but ultimately Mika became a double world champion for a reason.
I'm not sure yet. Let's see how this season plays out. Two consecutive seasons of being out scored by a team mate might affect Lewis or his reputation.
11 replies or 12 posts?From DC to Lewis in 11 posts, decent record