David Coulthard on F1 and DTM difference

David Coulthard seems to be stepping closer to a DTM debut with Mercedes. The Scot tested a Mercedes C-Class in Spain and is reported to be in for a drive this season in a 2008 specification Mercedes. While the Scot has spent many years in Formula One, he is new to the DTM cars.

“The cars are very impressive in terms of their performance when you compare them with other categories outside of F1,” said Coulthard to Autosport.

The biggest difference to a Formula One car according to Coulthard is the brakes.

“I probably hadn’t drive a car in anger for a year – although I have done F1 demo runs – and that probably helped me not to expect too much in the braking zones. You probably have half of the braking pressure that you do in F1,” said Coulthard.

Another difference, that Coulthard enjoyed, was the ability to powerslide the DTM car through high speed corners.

“You can slide it through high-speed corners whereas in F1 you can never get crossed up like that. With the DTM car you can powerslide it through the highspeed turns. You don’t see that in F1 unless you are heading for a crash,” said Coulthard.