So, DC, where were you last night?

You wouldn't credit that David Coulthard had finished a disappointing 13th in the British Grand Prix just the day before. It's Monday morning, and he bowls into the Red Bull Racing offices fully aware that his team suffered on that Sunday afternoon around Silverstone, yet he's bristling with enthusiasm and energy.

Fresh from his debrief at the team's Milton Keynes headquarters, he has been working hard to get the operation back on target - a not inconsiderable task.

And now he's taking time out to talk to F1 Racing. More than just an experienced racer, he's now an ambassador for the sport. And his recent spat with Max Mosley shows that he's lost none of his fire - or his concern to play it safe. He's a senior figure within the paddock and has a huge circle of friends and colleagues - and it's to them that we now turn to tease out the real DC.

He lowers himself into his seat and asks gingerly: "Did any of them ask why I still do it?"

"Nope."

"Ah, good!"

Let's go...

Rubens Barrichello

Perennial Coulthard opponent - beat him to the 1991 British F3 title and graduated to F1 with Jordan in 1993. Like DC, has become an F1 long-termer

"Why do you like Brazilians so much?"

"Gil de Ferran was my first real contact with Brazilians back in 1989 when I was in Formula Ford. Then we were thrown together as team-mates in Vauxhall Lotus at Paul Stewart Racing in 1990. Unusually, we were sharing a room as well, so we'd go to the race track together and battle on the circuit. It was either going to be a marriage made in heaven or a complete disaster."

Gil de Ferran

Rival and subsequent team-mate during their junior British single-seater apprenticeship in the early '90s. A mentor and still a friend, now in Formula 1 as B.A.R-Honda sporting director

"What's your favourite surface cleaner?"

"I'm obsessive about cleanliness! Last Monday, I was driving back into London after the French GP debrief and had to dive into Sainsbury's on the Cromwell Road to buy some. I went in and grabbed shelf-fulls of stuff. I came back with a mountain of cleaning products. People recognised me so I had to buy a couple of bags of lettuce so as I didn't look like a complete neat freak. I like the idea of things being immaculately clean."

Johnny Herbert

British racing perennial and rival to DC throughout much of the '90s

"Where were you last night? There's usually an interesting answer..."

"After the British Grand Prix, I went to a restaurant called Carpaccio, which is a nice little Italian on the corner of Fulham Road and Sydney Street. I went with Jenson Button and a few friends. Eddie Jordan popped by, too - it was wildly entertaining to see him in three-quarter-length white trousers and a Hawaiian shirt. He's 57! He's actually in good nick for an old boy. Then we went to a nightclub called Boujis for a couple of hours, jumped around and had some fun."

Max Mosley

Recently antagonised by DC after he criticised the 2005 one-engine regs. Theirs is currently a tense relationship

"I don't have a particular question for you. But I think your career is far from over. Best wishes."

"Ha ha ha! I wonder if people could say the same about Max! Ah ha ha!"

Martin Brundle

Friend, one-time rival, manager and confidant

"He'll hate me for saying this, but what does the 'M' of your middle name stand for?"

"Ha ha! It gets put into contracts all the time - I'm sure McLaren used to do it to wind me up. They would always put my full name - this contract is between McLaren International and David 'middle name' Coulthard. And I'd make them take it out because I just didn't see the relevance - it's not like I have a problem with my middle name, I don't. It's my mother's maiden name, which is Marshall, but I just didn't understand why the fuck it had to be put in contracts. That's why Martin's asking that."

Murray Walker

British commentating legend

"Now you've got the benefit of hindsight, should you have left McLaren earlier?"

"I always made my choice based on what I thought was the best opportunity for performance the following year. And the opportunities available to me meant that staying at McLaren was always preferable. There was a real chance of going to Ferrari in the 1990s when Eddie Irvine went there. But considering the contract that was on offer, it would have been the wrong thing to do. I'm happy and comfortable with the decisions I've made."

Jenson Button

Self-confessed DC fan, a mate and, alongside JV, the third member of the triumvirate who take their motorhomes to European races

"I don't actually have a question - I already know everything I need to know about you..."

"That's pretty accurate, yeah. We spend a lot of time together in both a work and social environment. When we're working, it's a very intense, matter-of-fact, engineering-driven science; and then when we're not working we want it to be haphazard and happy and jokey. That's how we tend to be away from the track. In many ways we can relate, because we know what it's like - we know how tiring it is to travel, what it's taken to get to where we are, so we tend to skip to the good bits. He's a good friend."

Jackie Stewart

Fellow Scot, safety campaigner and Formula 1 ambassador

"How do you feel your work with the GPDA to enhance safety is progressing?"

"The whole thing has really started to develop this year. The GPDA have inevitably become a much more focused group than we've been in the past - maybe because there's an element of stability among the drivers. After talking to the FIA, we've found ways of regulating test facilities. And we now have a commitment from the team principals to improve matters. In our own way, we're continuing the significant work started by Jackie back in his day."

Jacques Villeneuve

Took DC's Williams seat in 1996. A long-time friend and fellow motorhome buddy

"What are the ingredients of a Sex on the Beach cocktail?"

"Ah, we've drunk so much of it - the two of us - that I should know! Whenever we've had Sex on the Beach parties, they've usually ended up with someone having sex somewhere - but not necessarily on the beach. I think it's essentially vodka and fruit juices. But I'm buggered if I know all the ingredients - there must be some peach schnapps in there somewhere, too." (F1 Racing's cocktails editor notes: a Sex on the Beach cocktail mixes vodka with peach schnapps, and cranberry, pineapple and orange or grapefruit juice.)

Patrick Head

Williams technical director during DC's tenure - 1994-95

"It took me a long time to think of a question that wasn't facetious... So, who was quicker - Mika Hakkinen or Kimi Raikkonen?"

"They're both exceptional drivers. When Mika was at the peak of his career and battling Michael, it seemed to be very easy for him. As it does for Kimi, too. Both of them appear to have popped out of the same mould - they're not buzzing around; they're slow-moving, slow-acting, like the ultimate conservers of energy. Yet in the car, they're able to deliver. It's a difficult one and you'd have to have them both out on the track to separate the two. It would be an awesome battle."

Frank Williams

Williams team boss. Made the decision in the autumn of 1995 to release DC in favour of Jacques Villeneuve for 1996

"What was going through your mind at the Nurburgring in 1995 when you spun off on the installation lap?"

"I remember that! I was going to the grid and spun at the top of the fast chicane. It was slightly damp and I spun and stalled. And I remember thinking, 'Ohhhhh, fuck!' What's more, I was on pole. I got back to the pits, jumped into the T-car so didn't lose pole, and I finished third. I was inexperienced and made a few public mistakes, but each of those mistakes was made through commitment, trying to achieve something, rather than through sloppiness."

Ron Dennis

Team boss, occasional antagonist but a man with faith in DC - he employed him for nine seasons

"Why do you spend so much time on the past when you could be looking to the future? You should be concentrating on racing, not whingeing..."

"People sometimes imply that I regret my time at McLaren. I don't. I may have made some observations about things I didn't enjoy - but only because I was asked a question. I never bring it up myself. I agree with Ron - we shouldn't spend our time looking back and whingeing because it doesn't achieve anything. But I don't perceive me talking about things as whingeing - whingeing is me saying, 'Come on, give me that; why aren't you doing this?' which never happened at McLaren. I'm just expressing an opinion about historical events - it's a constant comparison."

Martin Whitmarsh

McLaren managing director. Occasional critic of DC's abilities

"What was going through your mind at Spa in 1998 when your mirrors turned red?"

"On reflection, I was well aware I was being caught by Michael Schumacher and that he was about to lap me. I had no intention of getting in the way of the race. But on reflection, slowing down on the racing line on the straight was not a good thing. The aftermath of that - him thinking there was some conspiracy theory and we were out to take him out of the race - was just bollocks. What did he say to me? 'Were you trying to fucking kill me?' were his exact words, I think..."

Adrian Newey

McLaren technical director, who also worked with David during his stint at Williams in the mid-90s

"Have the burns on your bottom - caused by the underchassis plank bolts heating up - healed yet?"

"I've got two little scars on my buttocks from the burns. The team knew there was a problem with the front suspension. There was one lap in Malaysia when the car was just running on the deck and the plank was transmitting friction heat through the carbon floor. Because I'm a taller driver than most I sit closer to the floor and it was radiating so much heat that it physically blistered my bum. I got someone to photograph the burns and email it to the factory. But I think it shows my determination in the car - if you give up once, you'll always give up..."

Kimi Raikkonen

Laconic McLaren driver. Very fast

"Is it more fun at Red Bull?"

"There's a different atmosphere, clear for all to see."

Gerry Convey

DC's physio last year, joined McLaren at the start of 2003

"Do you still have my series one DVD of The Office? You borrowed it in 2003 - remember?"

"Ahhh, I do! And it's in the motorhome. I thought I bought that. Is that yours? It just shows how people remember things - Gerry, I will give it back as soon as possible!"

Christian Horner

Red Bull Racing team principal. A major DC convert

"If you were at Jerez '97 now, in front of Mika, would you suffer 'radio interference'?"

"Yes. With the benefit of hindsight, I'd have put the team's wishes to one side and just held my position. It was a hard decision. There was a whole conversation asking me to move over. It was something I couldn't comprehend because we hadn't discussed it beforehand. That went on for several laps until eventually... [he pauses] you know, I was very upset. It was very disappointing; you put a lot of emotion into what you do in the car...

"I'm sure Mika's first two wins were a bit weird for him. I remember a great picture in the 1998 Melbourne Herald Sun the day after the race. Mika was on the podium half crying and I was looking up at him - the headline was 'I don't know why you're crying - I had to move over.'

"But you have to say that McLaren were as loyal to me as I was to them. I was there nine seasons. You can't just make a criticism without giving praise as well - and I got long-term commitment from them in a form that only Michael got at Ferrari."

Christian Klien

Austrian youngster nipping at DC's heels at Red Bull

"At 34, do you have to train more now than you did when you were 22?"

"I'm more efficient with my training now. I'm also physically stronger - when I started out I was relatively skinny. But your body always gets used to what you're doing - if a brickie bends down to pick up bricks all day it doesn't bother him, but if you or I tried it, after half-a-day we'd be knackered. So I'm more efficient - shorter, sharper sessions and I'm in the car a lot. I was racing yesterday, I'll be training in a park today, then testing at Jerez."

Williams

"When you're young, you just get on with things. As you get older you use your experience to weigh up the options. There's a crossover point in your career where you get the experience/inexperience mix just right. If you over-analyse something, it becomes a drain on your time and energy.

"Williams was a very intense and enjoyable period. What was surprising was how little formal training a team gave a driver - it felt like: 'Here's a driver, he can do the job, get on with it.' I was just turning up, driving the car and going home - that surprised me.

"But I really learnt how a top team go about their business. Despite all the technology, the sport is still driven by people. Frank would talk to everyone, get a good understanding of what was happening. Likewise with Patrick - he would be debriefing in the corridors. Everyone was encouraged to speak up and play their part."

McLaren

"After leading the race at Adelaide in October 1995, qualifying 13th at Melbourne in March 1996 was a shock. I pinched myself, woke up and thought, 'My God! We've lost all this performance and Williams are at the front.' It was a reality check.

"But we worked hard. Mika and I were early on in our careers and were striving to help the team, help Mercedes develop the engine, improve the car; then Adrian [Newey] came on board. It was just a positive, upward step that was great to be part of.

"It took me some time to adapt to the grooved tyres in 1998. As the cars became more nervous, I had difficulty controlling the rear as I entered a corner. Mika was a left-foot braker, so could stabilise the car a bit better. It wasn't until 2000 that I managed to get myself into left-foot braking.

"There were different pressures on the team once we started winning. The expectation increases and the finger-pointing starts. When you have a number of companies working together, I don't think you can ever stop that."

Red Bull

"I'm enjoying being part of the decision-making process. There are certain things I can bring to the team that they haven't yet benefited from. I do have a feeling that we're making logical steps, that we're investing in the right areas, and that I've played a part in developing the car and encouraging some people to come to the team.

"If you've had a relationship with certain people in the past, you can look them in the eye and say, 'I'm not going to bullshit you - this is the way it is, these are our current limitations but this is what we're trying to do in the future.' They trust you and believe you and that's why they join us.

"But despite our efforts, we're mostly outside the top 10 and we want to be mostly inside the top 10. That's the next step. And I know from my years in the sport that you're not going to fundamentally change the car during the season. So we have to depend on next year's car - and I have more responsibility than I've ever had before to make that car better - otherwise we'll have screwed up somewhere."

We want to hear from you!

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.

Take our survey

- The Autosport.com Team

Read and post comments