David Coulthard often gets into trouble for his off-track shenanigans and hot takes. His recent interview with The Telegraph has caused a similar uproar among fans on social media. The former Red Bull driver was talking about female drivers in motorsport and how they need to find female racers and give them the “Lewis Hamilton treatment“. Fans of the seven-time champion feel perplexed about these statements from Coulthard as to what he meant.
Coulthard was talking about his sister who passed away in 2013 and how she could have been a professional racer. Thus, the Scottish former driver mentioned, “I want to try and make sure that someone like her doesn’t miss the opportunity again. We just need to find a few of those women and give them the Lewis Hamilton treatment.”
Coulthard has been involved in the mission to promote gender diversity in motorsport. He has also started the initiative “More Than Equal” with businessman Karel Komarek. This will be a driver development program to groom and empower female racing talent and provide them with holistic training and development.
However, his comments about the “Lewis Hamilton treatment” have not impressed fans on social media. Many of them reacted on X (formerly Twitter) by questioning if this was wrongly worded by Coulthard.
Hamilton has struggled a lot in his early racing career and also in his childhood with discrimination. So, many fans felt that the ex-Red Bull driver was neglecting all those struggles of the Briton to climb up to F1.
On the other hand, the 52-year-old perhaps could be referring to the support McLaren provided to Hamilton to help him develop into a top-notch F1 champion. Coulthard most likely knows the struggles the Mercedes driver went through and may not have intended to neglect those.
Fans did not like David Coulthard’s analogy involving Lewis Hamilton
David Coulthard expressed regret on how he was not able to help his sister to become a professional racer. He felt if she had received the kind of developmental path like him, it could have been different. Thus, that was his motivation behind “More Than Equal” and looking to find female champion drivers.
However, fans on X have not taken Coulthard’s recent comments too kindly. Most of them are upset with him for bringing a Lewis Hamilton analogy into this conversation. The context of his statements may be open to interpretation, but social media users have not liked it, with one of them citing Coulthard as “full of sh*t”.
Oftentimes, there is a conversation on whether there is enough backing and support for females in motorsport. Currently, at ground level, the disparity is there to some extent and that may have been Coulthard’s reference point.
Bridging the gap is crucial and Formula 1 is putting in efforts with F1 Academy getting more integrated with F1 and other junior formulas. Providing the pathway to female racers like Marta Garcia (who will race in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2024 after winning F1 Academy last year) will help the cause big time.
Perhaps fans may have gone overboard into analyzing from a certain standpoint and thus the wrath against Coulthard. Nonetheless, with his initiative “More Than Equal”, the Scottish driver’s intentions are in the right direction.
