Since Ferrari is the most successful F1 constructor in history with 16 championships, it is a dream for most drivers to race for one of the most fabled outfits of the sport. This was the case all the more during Michael Schumacher’s heyday as he not only won five consecutive Drivers’ Championships himself but helped the team win five Constructors’ titles as well.
Despite Ferrari having such a rich legacy in the sport, former Red Bull driver David Coulthard refused to sign for them despite being presented with an offer. His answer was simple: he did not want to be on the same team as the legendary Schumacher.
Considering that most young F1 drivers of today explain how it is a privilege to team up with someone like Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton because of how much they would get to learn from them, why didn’t Coulthard want to do the same? The Briton simply wanted an equal status at whichever team he raced for.
He believed he would not have had that at Ferrari since Schumacher was a better driver than him.
“Now we know that Michael was the better driver and would very rarely find himself behind me, but I just couldn’t commit myself to knowing that I did not have an equal of going for the win or whatever the position was,” he had revealed on the Formula for Success podcast.
#ForzaMichael – A message from David Coulthard http://t.co/HngvC6kcWd pic.twitter.com/M2jpZ7VHCa
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) March 24, 2014
This was not a mandate that only Coulthard had to follow. Because of Schumacher’s glittering success, Ferrari naturally always built the team around him. So, any driver willing to join the Prancing Horse had to have the understanding that they would play second fiddle to the German.
That said, Coulthard was definitely not a pushover. With 13 race victories, the Briton definitely had proven that he was an incredibly strong driver, who was capable of fighting for wins when he had the chance.
Since McLaren — the outfit Coulthard raced for — also considered him an asset, then-team CEO Ron Dennis even approached the British driver when he realized that Ferrari had made an offer for him to talk him out of it. While things worked out for Coulthard, it worked out even better for his former co-host, the late, great Eddie Jordan.
With Coulthard refusing to sign for Ferrari, the Italian outfit negotiated a buyout for Jordan driver Eddie Irvine. On one of the episodes of the Formula for Success podcast, the late Irishman revealed that Ferrari did “pay him handsomely” for signing Irvine.
