David Coulthard’s relationship with Mercedes is one of the longest in the world of motorsport. And it’s just entered a new phase as he becomes the new brand ambassador for AMG.
The 40-year-old Scotsman represents the brand in the UK and not only helps with the marketing, as he’s doing now for the latest Mercedes E63 AMG, he will also be a pat of AMG development team in their test driving activities. Apparently David will help to improve handling of the cars and try to introduce some British sophistication to the Germans horsepower craze!
Former Formula 1 driver and the current DTM racer, who lives in Monaco where he owns a posh hotel, has been with Mercedes Benz since 1996.
Ola Källenius, Chairman of Mercedes-AMG GmbH: “We are very pleased to welcome David Coulthard as a new member of the AMG family. As a fair sportsman and well-liked personality, David is perfectly suited to AMG and its more than 40 years of motorsports history. As an active DTM driver and Formula 1 driver of many years standing, David Coulthard has very extensive know-how which makes him a very knowledgeable partner for our engineers when configuring new AMG high-performance models.”
David Coulthard: “I have been a member of the Mercedes-Benz family since 1996, and now I am also joining AMG as an exciting high-performance brand. This is without doubt the perfect complement to my job as a DTM driver, where I already drive an AMG C-Class of course.”
Impressive Formula 1 career, DTM driver for Mercedes-Benz since 2010
David Coulthard began his career in kart racing, becoming Scottish Junior Kart Champion from 1983 to 1985. Absolving various stages in Formula racing, he joined the Williams Formula 1 team in 1994. In 1995 David Coulthard achieved third place in the Formula 1 World Championship. At the start of the 1996 season he moved to McLaren Mercedes, becoming a team colleague of Mika Häkkinen (Finland). In 2001 Coulthard became runner up of World Champion ship behind Michael Schumacher.
From 2005 to 2008 he drove for Red Bull Racing, ending his Formula 1 career in 2008. Between 1994 and 2008 David Coulthard took part in a total of 246 Grand Prix races, 150 of them for McLaren-Mercedes, achieving 13 victories of which 12 were for McLaren-Mercedes. Since 2010 David Coulthard has competed in the DTM series for the Mücke Motorsport team, in a 2008-version Mercedes-Benz C-Class. At the end of the last season in Shanghai, he won his first championship point with an eighth place, also driving the fastest lap in the race. In the 2011 DTM season, Coulthard’s best result to date has been eighth place in the fourth race at Norisring. With one championship point, the 40 year-old is in 14th place in the overall ranking.
