DC to rub wheels with Ralf in DTM

Posted on 03/04/2010

© Sutton Images

David Coulthard will make a return to racing in the DTM series after admitting he had been offered and turned down a drive in F1. Coulthard will drive in the series for Mercedes and race alongside ex-F1 driver Ralf Schumacher and Force India test driver Paul di Resta.

"I always said I wasn't hanging up my helmet for good because I didn't believe I was over racing," he told BBC Sport. "I just knew my time as an F1 driver had reached its natural conclusion. There's a reasonable level of technology involved in the [DTM] cars, it's a professionally run championship and in Mercedes there's a company I worked with for seven years in my time at McLaren."

He said he had been approached by an F1 team to drive but is happy just to be a BBC pundit in the paddock – a role he will dovetail with his DTM commitments.

"I had a call from one of the teams which I never returned because people in F1 knew I wasn't looking to make a return in F1," he added. "The adrenalin is the thing I miss in everyday life. Do I miss the competition? Only because I know how much fun it is to compete. But there's not a big void in my life which means I'm missing it. But if I can do a championship which fits with my other commitments and I get the buzz you get behind the wheel of a racing car, then why would I not take it? I'm almost 40, I won't have that option open to me when I'm almost 50. I raced for 26 years, only 15 of them were in F1, so there was a number of other years of racing in other formula."