Max Verstappen at the British Grand Prix

Ex-Red Bull driver shares Verstappen's anecdote: 'He was 5 seconds faster!'

20:22, 18 Aug

byKevin Doldersum

David Coulthard drove for Red Bull Racing between 2005 and 2008. The 54-year-old Brit recently shared an anecdote featuring Max Verstappen in the starring role — with the four-time world champion completely outclassing him on track.

Coulthard was asked the following question in an interview on the YouTube channel of Indo Sport: ''Do you think the average citizen would last 10 laps in the car physically?''

The analyst was adamant in his answer: ''That's being incredibly kind. And when I say the average person, that includes me nowadays.''

After giving it some thought, the former F1 driver shared an anecdote to illustrate his point: ''Two years ago I did a filming for a little feature where we were at San Marino, and I went around the track in RB7 which would have been the Sebastian Vettel V8 World Championship car.''

''I did one timed lap on a track that I've won the Grand Prix in 1998 or 1999. And then Max Verstappen jumped in the car, and he did one flying lap and I was five seconds slower.''

David Coulthard

Despite this substantial difference in lap time, Coulthard was able to leave the circuit feeling good: ''I was actually reasonably happy with that because I hadn't been around Imola for more than a decade or more.''

''I haven't driven Grand Prix cars at that time. I'd done demonstrations and I do donuts but not pushing on a racetrack for well over a decade. So that just puts in perspective get what it is to be at the peak of your game.''

F1 is ‘addictively uncomfortable’ according to Coulthard

Coulthard continued by discussing the physical capabilities required by F1 drivers to perform: ''I've lost more than two inches in neck girth and that's including the fact that I've got neck fat as a 54 year old. That's just muscle.''

''You look at the drivers, their necks come from their jaws and you know mine used to, and I've got quite a wide jaw.''

Finally, he pointed out that F1 is an extreme sport: ''That’s all because you're supporting all that G and weight on your head. So it's an extreme environment. It's uncomfortable. It's fantastically uncomfortable. It's addictively uncomfortable when you're in the space of trying to win Grand Prix.''