He was swapped in and out with 1992 champion Nigel Mansell<\/a> during his rookie season before completing the full 1995 campaign alongside Damon Hill<\/a>.<\/p>\n Williams<\/a> had a reputation for letting their drivers\u2019 champions leave as soon as they won a title with the team.<\/p>\n Mansell raced in Champ Car in 1993 after winning the championship, and his replacement, Alain Prost<\/a>, immediately retired after winning his fourth and final title the following year.<\/p>\n Hill discovered halfway through his title campaign that he had been replaced by Ralf Schumacher, and Jacques Villeneuve<\/a> only completed one more year with Williams after his 1997 triumph before leading the BAR project.<\/p>\n Coulthard has previously explained why he never became an F1 champion<\/a> and missed out on his opportunity with Williams after getting caught in a contract dispute that eventually led him to sign for McLaren<\/a>.<\/p>\n In his final race before joining Ron Dennis\u2019<\/a> team, he made one error that ultimately cost him \u00a32 million.<\/p>\n READ MORE: David Coulthard chooses who would come out on top between peak Max Verstappen and peak Ayrton Senna<\/a><\/p>\n Coulthard was speaking about his final race for Williams in 1995 at the Australian Grand Prix<\/a> on Memory Box<\/a> and explained: \u201cDamon 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI was leading the race when I made a mistake coming into the pit lane.<\/p>\n \u201cDownshifted, and I couldn\u2019t stop the car! As I downshifted, I got a little bit of a push from the gearbox.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see, I turn in, it\u2019s a little bit dusty, you see it pushing, it just all happened very quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I had pulled the clutch, it probably would have been fine.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that cost me the win bonus for Williams, which was half a million pounds. Half a million pounds if you won the race.<\/p>\n RANKDRIVERTEAMPOINTS1Damon HillWilliams102Olivier PanisLigier63Gianni MorbidelliFootwork44Mark BlundellMcLaren35Mika SaloTyrrell26Pedro LamyMinardi11995 Australian Grand Prix results<\/p>\n \u201cOn top of it, the McLaren contract that I\u2019d signed for 1996 and 1997, if I\u2019d won two races for Williams, it added a million dollars each year [\u00a3773k], so it was an expensive crash.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve let it go a long time ago!\u201d<\/p>\n The \u00a3500,000 Coulthard lost out on for the win bonus, combined with the almost \u00a31.5m he lost out on during his first two years at Williams, means the error cost him \u00a32m in total.<\/p>\n 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 \u00a35,000 per race during his debut Williams season.<\/p>\n READ MORE: David Coulthard claims Ron Dennis once offered \u00a3800k to remove one thing from his helmet at McLaren<\/a><\/p>\n How close did David Coulthard come to becoming a Formula 1 world champion?<\/p>\n Coulthard watched Michael Schumacher win back-to-back titles with Benetton during his time with Williams, although Hill\u2019s collision with Schumacher in Adelaide in 1994<\/a> controversially cost the British driver the title.<\/p>\n During Coulthard\u2019s time with McLaren, they were the dominant presence on the grid in 1998 and 1999.<\/p>\n![\"Williams](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1215002-1024x458.jpg\")
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\u2019s 1995 Australian Grand Prix pit lane crash cost him \u00a32,000,000<\/p>\n