He is the F1 driver David Coulthard called a ‘hooligan’ before they became teammates

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David Coulthard saw out his final two seasons in F1 as teammates with Mark Webber at Red Bull, yet the pair did not always enjoy a great relationship during their careers.

Williams gave Coulthard his debut in 1994 following the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola, but the Scot did not do all of the remaining races that term. Williams turned to Nigel Mansell for four of the remaining rounds in 1994, before giving Coulthard the drive full-time from 1995.

Coulthard would have 124 Grand Prix starts to his name by the time that Webber bagged his F1 debut with Minardi in 2002. But even having 62 Grand Prix starts did not prevent Webber from infuriating Coulthard when Istanbul Park held the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix in 2005.

The 2005 F1 season also marked the arrival of Red Bull, who signed Coulthard to lead their line-up after spending nine years at McLaren. Coulthard was nearly replaced by Damon Hill at McLaren for 1998, but ultimately lost his seat to Juan Pablo Montoya for the 2005 term.

David Coulthard called Mark Webber a ‘maniac’ after the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix

Webber later joined Coulthard at Red Bull in 2007, following spells with Minardi, Jaguar and Williams. It was during the first of Webber’s two years at Williams that he riled Coulthard at the 2005 Turkish GP, when the Scot took issue with how the Australian fought him on track.

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Coulthard wrote in the Daily Record in September 2005, via Autosport: “Mark Webber will be the next Australian world champion… in boxing, not Formula 1. The man is a hooligan, and he underlined the fact in Turkey when he performed a wild move on me.

“There is an agreement between drivers that you can defend your position once – then you have to give in. But in Istanbul, he left me livid when he gave me a sideways swipe at Turn 11, moving his Williams-BMW towards my car like a fighter flashing a dummy punch in the ring.

“It’s disgusting behaviour, unprofessional, and I have no sympathy for Webber after he almost smacked into Michael Schumacher in the same race.

“He must be doing this out of frustration. He was tipped to be the next Aussie ace to win the world title but next year he will be in a team with a non-manufacturer engine – albeit the Cosworth, which has been good for me this season.

“His strength has always been how to qualify a car, but, on the track, he is a madman.”

Along with the incident that upset Coulthard, Webber tangled with Schumacher in the 2005 Turkish GP despite the Australian being a lap down at the time. Webber suffered a puncture on Lap 9, but spun Schumacher at Turn 12 on L14 by trying to unlap himself on the German.

The contact with Schumacher broke Webber’s front wing and forced him to pit again, before his race came to an early end on Lap 21 after suffering another rear-right puncture. Ferrari’s Schumacher also called it a day on Lap 32 after initially continuing multiple laps off the lead.

Coulthard overcame his early incident with Webber to end the 2005 Turkish GP in P7 to seal two points. The Scot finished 69.292s behind his former McLaren teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who beat Renault rival Fernando Alonso by 18.609s to win on F1’s first visit to Istanbul Park.