Coulthard snaps show need for speed runs in family
AS A child, Formula One legend David Coulthard learned the art of motorsport by hurtling around bumpy tracks in a rickety go-kart.
Now, more than three decades after he first began racing, the former McLaren driver is watching his son cut a familiar figure behind the wheel.
The proud father, 46, took to social media to share a photograph of his son, Dayton, poised to tackle a few practice laps of the Bahrain International Karting Circuit.
Mr Coulthard posted it along with the message: ‘Thanks to everyone for the tremendous support with DC jnr.’
The image echoes a photograph taken in the early 1980s of Mr Coulthard behind the wheel of a more primitive go-kart.
The Kirkcudbrightshire-born driver, who raced Formula One between 1994 and 2008, later posted a video of his son in action on the circuit.
Casting his expert eye over the eight-year-old’s driving technique, he commented: ‘Bit wide of the apex but early days!’
Mr Coulthard first introduced Dayton to go-karting last year, enlisting fellow racing driver Alan McNish to help coach the youngster. At the time, he said that despite his young age, Dayton displayed ‘good natural skills like handling.’
He added that Dayton has set his heart on becoming a racing driver when he grows up, though admits it is ‘way too early to even dream of that for him yet.’
Mr Coulthard did not take up racing until he was 11, when his father presented him with his first kart for his birthday.
He went on to win Scottish Junior Kart Championship and the Scottish Kart Championship before eventually graduating to Formula One in 1994. He enjoyed a 14-year career with teams such as Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, racing against legendary drivers including Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill.
Mr Coulthard has been married to Dayton’s Belgian mother, Karen Minier, since 2013. She is a Formula One correspondent for French TV channel TF1.