David Coulthard made a mistake during the early stages of his Formula 1 career that cost him both on and off the track.
Frank Williams handed David Coulthard his Formula 1 debut after the tragic death of Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
He was swapped in and out with 1992 champion Nigel Mansell during his rookie season before completing the full 1995 campaign alongside Damon Hill.
Williams had a reputation for letting their drivers’ champions leave as soon as they won a title with the team.
Mansell raced in Champ Car in 1993 after winning the championship, and his replacement, Alain Prost, immediately retired after winning his fourth and final title the following year.
Hill discovered halfway through his title campaign that he had been replaced by Ralf Schumacher, and Jacques Villeneuve only completed one more year with Williams after his 1997 triumph before leading the BAR project.
Coulthard has previously explained why he never became an F1 champion and missed out on his opportunity with Williams after getting caught in a contract dispute that eventually led him to sign for McLaren.
In his final race before joining Ron Dennis’ team, he made one error that ultimately cost him £2 million.
READ MORE: David Coulthard chooses who would come out on top between peak Max Verstappen and peak Ayrton Senna
12 NOV 1995: DAVID COULTHARD OF GREAT BRITAIN LEADS THE PACK IN HIS WILLIAMS RENAULT AT THE START OF THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX. Mandatory Credit: Pascal Rondeau/ALLSPORTHow David Coulthard’s 1995 Australian Grand Prix pit lane crash cost him £2,000,000
Coulthard was speaking about his final race for Williams in 1995 at the Australian Grand Prix on Memory Box and explained: “Damon had qualified on pole, I had qualified second, but I was pretty confident that I could be quicker in the Grand Prix, which is what turned out to be the case.
“I was leading the race when I made a mistake coming into the pit lane.
“Downshifted, and I couldn’t stop the car! As I downshifted, I got a little bit of a push from the gearbox.
“You can see, I turn in, it’s a little bit dusty, you see it pushing, it just all happened very quickly.
“If I had pulled the clutch, it probably would have been fine.
“And that cost me the win bonus for Williams, which was half a million pounds. Half a million pounds if you won the race.
RANKDRIVERTEAMPOINTS1Damon HillWilliams102Olivier PanisLigier63Gianni MorbidelliFootwork44Mark BlundellMcLaren35Mika SaloTyrrell26Pedro LamyMinardi11995 Australian Grand Prix results
“On top of it, the McLaren contract that I’d signed for 1996 and 1997, if I’d won two races for Williams, it added a million dollars each year [£773k], so it was an expensive crash.
“I’ve let it go a long time ago!”
The £500,000 Coulthard lost out on for the win bonus, combined with the almost £1.5m he lost out on during his first two years at Williams, means the error cost him £2m in total.
It must have been a sickening feeling at the time for the Scottish driver, particularly as he admitted after replacing Senna that Frank Williams promised to pay him £5,000 per race during his debut Williams season.
READ MORE: David Coulthard claims Ron Dennis once offered £800k to remove one thing from his helmet at McLaren
How close did David Coulthard come to becoming a Formula 1 world champion?
Coulthard watched Michael Schumacher win back-to-back titles with Benetton during his time with Williams, although Hill’s collision with Schumacher in Adelaide in 1994 controversially cost the British driver the title.
During Coulthard’s time with McLaren, they were the dominant presence on the grid in 1998 and 1999.
However, Mika Hakkinen stopped Coulthard from becoming a world champion on both occasions.
Coulthard eventually got the better of Hakkinen in 2001 when the Finn then went on a sabbatical that still technically hasn’t come to an end to finish second to Schumacher himself.
Grand Prix starts246Pole positions12Wins13Podiums62Fastest laps18Points535Best championship result2nd (2001)David Coulthard’s Formula 1 career stats
He slowly dropped down the drivers’ championship standings from that moment onwards, eventually ending his time in F1 after four seasons with Red Bull.
Only Stirling Moss has won more Formula 1 races than Coulthard and not gone on to become a world champion.
There’s a chance Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris could leapfrog him in that sense this season, but it highlights how quick Coulthard was without ever being able to get the better of two drivers Martin Brundle considers among the best in F1 history.