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Motorsport is a dangerous game and Formula One has witnessed fatal accidents in its history.
But as a former championship driver, David Coulthard said the thrill of the competition made him overcome the fear factor during his illustrious career while he was behind the steering wheel of a F1 car.
Coulthard (48) is in South Africa for the Red Bull Cape Town Circuit exhibition race today.
“I was always very aware that racing is dangerous but I was also able to look at life. But life is dangerous and something is going to kill us in the end,” he said as a matter of fact.
Ironically, Coulthard came into F1 as a successor to Ayrton Senna at Williams in 1994, the legendary Brazilian who died after he crashed into a wall at the San Marino Grand Prix the same year.
“The thrill of the competition, the thrill of pushing the limits, I think that fear isn’t the important part for people of motor racing versus, for instance, free-climbers,” said Coulthard.
“Free climbers are able to compartmentalise their fear in a way I wouldn’t be able to do.
“The thought of looking over a balcony makes me feel uncomfortable, never mind hanging off a mountain somewhere.
“Having worked with Mika Häkkinen [at McLaren] – these guys had fear but they were able to find the limit of what the car was physically capable of doing.”
• Read more in City Press newspaper on what Coulthard think of South Africa’s prospects of hosting a F1 grand Prix;
• What to expect when he gets on the driver’s seat in Cape Town on a custom street circuit at Grand Palace today and;
• What he believes the current generation of F1 drivers is special
