David Coulthard and his fans will line-up for the 15th Formula 1 season in the early hours of Sunday morning. The Red Bull Racing driver will be looking to get off to a flying start at Melbourne, Australia after a relatively steady season in 2007.
The Scot is now the oldest driver in the field with his 37th birthday only weeks away. He has also entered the most grand prixs in the field with number 230 coming up in Melbourne.
These stats and figures haven’t put Coulthard off; in fact he seems to relish the prospect of giving the youngsters a run for their money. He has also stepped into the unofficial spokesman role for the drivers concerning safety, as well as the recent spying scandal which embarrassed the sport.
The former McLaren and Williams driver is coming to the end of a glittering career which has seen him finish runner-up in the drivers championship in 2001 and 13 race wins between 1995 at Portugal and 2003 at Australia. His most notable wins came twice at his home grand prix, Silverstone, and twice at his current residence, Monaco.
Since his move to Red Bull in 2005, Coulthard has proved the critics wrong by consistently being strong in races including a podium finish at Monaco, to which he wore a Superman cape in 2006. Notably he has finished above his team-mate in his 3 seasons at the Red Bull Racing team, with Christian Klien, Vitantonio Liuzzi and current team-mate Mark Webber all falling short of the Scots season total.
This season sees a new addition for Coulthard and the rest of the drivers with a night race in Singapore. The race will be staged mostly on the streets of the city with only part of the race being held on purposely built track for the race. The race will commence at 8pm, Singapore time in September as history will be made when the red lights go out.
An exciting amendment has also been made to the final qualifying session with only ten minutes to clinch pole position on the grid. This will result in less time of the burning off fuel stage and more flying laps being recorded.
Red Bull as a team will want to improve on their 5th placed finish of last season, although they will find the task more difficult since McLaren’s points will be recorded this season, and a stronger looking Renault team with Fernando Alonso back on board. The team will look to finish ahead of their closest rivals: Williams and Toyota, while trying to cling on to the coattails of the Renault and BMW Sauber team.
Coulthard himself will want to improve on his 10th place finish of the 2007 season as well as the 14 points which he gathered. His personal aim will probably be aiming for at least the top 8. However, this will only be fulfilled if Red Bull’s reliability improves from the 2007 season.
Lion Rampant Sports 
