DC's 200th GP - what should we celebrate?

[Hugh Jarce]

I must admit I like DC and would buy him a pint of shandy if I ever meet him in the Casino Bar in Monaco.

However, a 200th GP and not even a mention so far on here, from what I can see.

Now without entertaining any nastiness - what merits would you particularly note about the 'lengthy' career he has achieved (compared to the fortunes of many who now enter the sport)?

I vote for his general decency and team spirit in the face of not always being treated as well as colleagues have, and willingly giving interviews when he has had a dog of a race.

Well done DC.

[DeoValente]

First of all i like him as a person.

Il remember his streak of 5 consecutive pole positions in 1995.

Remeber him moving over for Mika in 2 consecutive races.

Remember him overtaking the poleman on the formation lap in hungary 98 and not getting black flagged unlike shumi who did the same in 94 with hill at silverstone.

Remember him taking out Shumi and thereby securing Mikas 98 title at spa 98and admitting it was his fault 5 years later at Austria 2002.

But most of all il remember his good looking girlfriends

[Clive]

Yeah he always comes across as a really nice guy, so you warm to him. As a racing driver he is good, but is he great? That is take nothing away from his achievements - 200 GPs and 500 points - brilliant and steadfast/dependable, huge experience. And I echo what has already been said.
Nice one David

[Silk Cut Jaguar]

200 starts, 60 podiums, 13 wins and most points ever scored by a British driver.

He has showed flashes of brilliance and put in some stellar drives over the years but more often than not he has been the consummate professional by playing the team game.

Being well spoken and slightly arrogant DC has always reminded me of the grand prix drivers of old, all he needs to do is lap Monaco while smoking a pipe and the picture will be complete.

[LampCord]

When I think of DC, I think of pure class. A lot of athletes could learn a thing or two from him.

He's always been an above average driver but never really a threat.

Still there's a lot to be said of someone being competitive for as long as he has in this sport.

[Inigo Montoya]

Isn't it obvious? The babes he's dated!

[JeremySmith]

David is pure *class* Well spoken, extremely articulate, intelligent, not arrogant a real team player, and a great ambassador for Formula1..His achievements are really something he should be very proud off..He will be missed when he retires..Well done DC

[rcarr]

David is a very nice bloke! Ive met him a few times!
I take my hat off to him, he is very down to earth, happy to talk if he has time, a good listener and a great racing driver!
A great ambassador for Scottish motor racing and Formula 1

[Bleu]

Originally Posted by DeoValente

Remember him overtaking the poleman on the formation lap in hungary 98 and not getting black flagged unlike shumi who did the same in 94 with hill at silverstone.

DC did nothing illegal there. Mika just didn't left the grid as fast and DC was ahead for a short time, but Mika took his position back before the first corner.

Schumacher at SIlverstone 94 overtook Hill between Club and Abbey Curves, nowhere near the start line. And he was not black-flagged for that, he was black-flagged for ignoring stop/go penalty.

[DeoValente]

DC did do an illegal thing there. It is not allowed to overtake the poleguy on the formation lap, regardless if mika went crawling from the line. He did that for whatever reason and should be penalised with the same stop/go shumi got in 94. That shumi decided to trundle on and ignore the penalty was justified by this example. The FIA is not consistent.

[BootsOntheSide]

WHat was DC supposed to do? Wait on the grid at the risk of stalling or overheating the car? Many times a driver has got away slowly on the warm-up lap and others have gone past him, before yielding the position almost immediately, and there has never been any suggestion of a penalty. Precisely why would it have been a problem for Mika to have DC briefly ahead of him?

Nobody would use the points statistic to suggest than DC is the 4th best driver of all time, but it does show something about him - a solid hard-working driver who has regularly done a good job for top teams. 13 wins is a pretty credible figure which stands ahead of many world champions. Above all, he's a good ambassador for the sport and a well-mannered guy.

[marzF1rocks]

Well, all i can say as regrads to D.C his good at his job and congrats in the 200th.

But we havn't really seen that compettive streak in him for a while

[L-B]

Originally Posted by DeoValente

Remember him taking out Shumi and thereby securing Mikas 98 title at spa 98and admitting it was his fault 5 years later at Austria 2002.

oh where do I even start..

1. It wasn't deliberate and had nothing to do with the title he was actually trying to get out of MS's way not take him off, accidents happen.

2. He said he was at fault because he should have moved over to the other side of the track. I still maintain that it wasn't but hey thats not the point. racing in the wet is dangerous.

3. He said that he was at fault at Spa during the French GP weekend of 2003 after he spun off trying to avoid Alonso at the previous GP in the Nurburgring. nothing to do with Austria 2002.

4 Austria 2002 is 4 years after Spa 1998

[DeoValente]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

WHat was DC supposed to do? Wait on the grid at the risk of stalling or overheating the car? Many times a driver has got away slowly on the warm-up lap and others have gone past him, before yielding the position almost immediately, and there has never been any suggestion of a penalty. Precisely why would it have been a problem for Mika to have DC briefly ahead of him?

.

Its not my fault the rules state clearly nobody is to overtake the leading car on the formation lap. That is what DC did. And right or not, he should have gotten a stop and go penalty at least. And no, not many times a driver has done that. Especially after silverstone 94 i looked at every formation lap to see if i could spot a driver do that, and it took till about hungary 98 for a clear example.

[DeoValente]

Originally Posted by L-B

oh where do I even start..

1. It wasn't deliberate and had nothing to do with the title he was actually trying to get out of MS's way not take him off, accidents happen.

2. He said he was at fault because he should have moved over to the other side of the track. I still maintain that it wasn't but hey thats not the point. racing in the wet is dangerous.

3. He said that he was at fault at Spa during the French GP weekend of 2003 after he spun off trying to avoid Alonso at the previous GP in the Nurburgring. nothing to do with Austria 2002.

4 Austria 2002 is 4 years after Spa 1998

I dont care if it was done deliberate or not. Then again if i had the notion it was done deliberatly i wouldnt have said i like him as a person. I think the mclaren pitwall was perhaps even more at fault for not tellling DC what to do and who was getting behind. Point is he was getting lapped near a fast corner in the rain and it was stupid to the point of being a rookie for not getting of the line and slowing down so drastically on that line with the leader of the race behind.

I think it was nice of David, if somewhat late, to admit he was the one at faulta nd not Shumi, something shumi has always maintained. In hindsight it has costed Shumi a certain title but i think with 7 titles he got his revenge more than good on mclaren.

[L-B]

Originally Posted by DeoValente

I dont care if it was done deliberate or not. Then again if i had the notion it was done deliberatly i wouldnt have said i like him as a person. I think the mclaren pitwall was perhaps even more at fault for not tellling DC what to do and who was getting behind. Point is he was getting lapped near a fast corner in the rain and it was stupid to the point of being a rookie for not getting of the line and slowing down so drastically on that line with the leader of the race behind.

I think it was nice of David, if somewhat late, to admit he was the one at faulta nd not Shumi, something shumi has always maintained. In hindsight it has costed Shumi a certain title but i think with 7 titles he got his revenge more than good on mclaren.

The McLaren pitwall told DC to let MS pass after Todt had stormed down from the Ferrari garage to the McLaren pit, after MS had asked for his pitwall to do something about DC. Thats why DC slowed in the first place. DC accelerated out of the corner with 57% throttle ( from the telemetry release) MS hit him going at 100% despite requesting for DC to slow down and let him past. Oh and it was on a straight heading into Pouhon not on a corner

MS also nearly hit another car merely two laps earlier doing exactly the same thing.

As for Hungary 1998 being a clear pass on the leader, sadly you are very much mistaken there. He just got away better then slowed to let mika passed on the run to the first corner. MS actively overtook Hill. The fact that I thought the MS penalty was a crock of bull is irrelevent the two cases aren't the same.

Anyway it would be sad if DC was remembered because of these 30% podium rate isn't bad going he even did a great job with red bull last year. That in itself opened a few eyes.

[Bononi]

Ok, and who's gonna open the champagne for the celebration ?

After all, it's not the bad things that would stop us from bringing on the dancing girls and celebrating this mark the way DC would like to do !

[pdman]

Originally Posted by L-B

The McLaren pitwall told DC to let MS pass after Todt had stormed down from the Ferrari garage to the McLaren pit, after MS had asked for his pitwall to do something about DC. Thats why DC slowed in the first place. DC accelerated out of the corner with 57% throttle ( from the telemetry release) MS hit him going at 100% despite requesting for DC to slow down and let him past. Oh and it was on a straight heading into Pouhon not on a corner

Simple really if you run into the back of someone you're pretty dumb...
Typical arrogance he was driving to fast for the conditions and expected all the drivers to give him a clear run..... well guess what ,,,any driver could be fast in the wet if all the other drivers look out for him and move over... Anyway, I remember it well and nearly wet myself watching hime drive his 3 wheeler back to the garage

[Gore]

At the risk of wandering further off topic, I have a recollection of a rule change shortly after Silverstone 1994 (possibly the pre-'95 off-season) whereby the penalty for overtaking on the parade lap was removed.

Back to "Crazy Dave", I remember being pleasantly suprised with the way he seemed to step up a gear when Häkkinen began his six month slide to retirement in 2001 - he wasn't going to win the WDC, but he did give Schumacher something to think about for a couple of races.

I think his comment re: Montoya's injury last season deserves special mention also...

[pdman]

I think it has to be the girls BUT why does he change them so often ....
It was rumoured at one stage that he was gay and Mclaren paid for his girl friends to create the right image .....

either way he's a top guy ...

does he and JB have something going ????? they have become very close and JB dumped his girl last year !!!!!

[chillibowl]

anyways...

i'll admit to not being a DC fan during his years at Williams and McLaren, but his rebirth in IMO at Red Bull has really changed my opinion of him.

his career stats speak for themselves - a very successfull driver.

he is certainly one of the guys helping RBR to develop not only a first class racing team but also one which is accessible to fans because of their crazy fun style. i'tt give you wings!

if he gets in a shunt, he is always out there here helping the stewards with the clean up and with an attitude that "this is my car and i'll take care of it". not too many will do that.

and of course the ladies.

i would buy him a pint.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by DeoValente

DC did do an illegal thing there. It is not allowed to overtake the poleguy on the formation lap, regardless if mika went crawling from the line. He did that for whatever reason and should be penalised with the same stop/go shumi got in 94. That shumi decided to trundle on and ignore the penalty was justified by this example. The FIA is not consistent.

These two examples are similar when you describe them simply, but slight further investigation reveals that they are not the same. In addition and FWIW the pole man was 'overtaken' at the start of the warm-up lap at Nurburgring.

I feel we are in blinkered fandom here. And on a topic that isn't really in keeping with the thread.

Originally Posted by marzF1rocks

But we havn't really seen that compettive streak in him for a while

How long is "a while" and what do you mean by "competitive streak"?

[DeoValente]

Fair enough it should be for another thread.

I do think he had a long and succesfull streak, otherwise mclaren would not have kept him on for so long. He also was very quick with Williams where he sometimes made Hill look sluggish and out of place. And he does a good job at RBR but then again i also think fisi does a good job at renault and not everybody seems to agree with me

[elspethhardie]

I met DC several years ago while working for McLaren (in a very round about way) he was a true gentleman very kind and even showed me his holiday / birthday photos which were very funny.

Well done David for reaching such a great mile stone lets hope for several more starts to come.

[Fantasy GP610]

Besides his record of points,wins etc which i think speaks for itself..........i was lucky enough to go to Monaco 2001 when DC was behind Bernoldi for most of the race.

Just by chance later on i saw him outside the paddock heading for his scooter to go home .......... very quickly he was surrounded by people asking him for autographs etc.

After a race like that he was still incredibly polite/patient wth everyone and so pleasant i thought "this guy is OK".

Since then i've seen him in similar surroundings and he's very kind and always the same

He seems like a decent,down to earth guy to me doing an extraordinary "job" which he considers as just his life........no big deal.

He dosen't do it for public adulation but for pure love of racing.

He's been very dignified over the years when pushed to the limit with some mechanical/technical mishaps (eg.launch control Monaco 01).

Honest and informative in TV/media interviews (even more so now at Red Bull) with a good sense of humour,although i now wonder what he's going to come out with when Louise Goodman interviews him

Well respected within F1 and a great ambassador for the sport.

Not bad i think