David Coulthard admits he’s always been ‘personally against’ one Formula 1 team existing

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The number of teams on the Formula 1 grid has been a talking point bubbling under the surface throughout the 2024 season.

For a time, it appeared as though Andretti were going to offered the chance to become the 11^th team in the paddock.

However, at the beginning of January, Andretti discovered that their bid had been turned down although Toto Wolff’s reasoning for rejecting Andretti was one of the several more confusing takes.

It means there are still just 20 drivers on the grid even though the current Concorde Agreement allows for a maximum of 24 cars.

The identity of many of the teams currently on the grid have changed multiple times before.

Aston Martin have had several different names in Formula 1 since beginning life at Jordan back in 1991.

Alpine were once Toleman all the way back in 1981 and have gone through several iterations of previously being called Renault.

David Coulthard was speaking on the Beyond The Grid Podcast about another team on the grid and one he’s always had an issue with.

Coulthard started his career at Williams before having a successful stint with McLaren.

When he left the team at the end of 2004, he joined the newly created Red Bull team.

However, it wasn’t long until they bought Minardi to create Toro Rosso in 2006, now known as Visa Cash App RB.

Coulthard admitted that he disagreed with the premise of Toro Rosso, especially as during his final Formula 1 season, they had a faster car than the senior Red Bull team.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Visa Cash App RB F1 Team from team principal to Red Bull relationship

David Coulthard disagreed with the creation of the Toro Rosso F1 team

Coulthard: “If you remember in that 2008 season, we had the same car as Toro Rosso, they had the Ferrari engine, we had the Renault.

“They had more horsepower, they could basically run Adrian’s [Newey] car with more downforce and we were being outperformed by the junior team.

“And subsequently they took away that ability for teams to have designs from other teams.

“I’d always been personally against Toro Rosso, I remember saying to Dietrich [Mateschitz], it’s difficult enough to win with one team, why do you think we can win with two?

“But it was a kind of drive from a guy named Dany Bahar who worked with Dietrich at the time who I’m sure had very good business reasons to want to do that.

“And there’s an argument to show that the junior team has helped develop talent with Sebastian [Vettel] coming through there, Max [Verstappen] coming through there.

“So, it’s served a purpose but in the period where we were trying to win with one [team] and get all of the attention and focus from Austria, we then had a sister team which is at that point quicker than us.

“And at that point, I’m like, I’m done.”

Coulthard admitted it was one of the factors in deciding to retire was the amount of energy he put into Red Bull being a success, he was frustrated by the success of Toro Rosso.

Visa Cash App RB looking to return to their junior team roots

Toro Rosso won their first race in F1 at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, one of many results that earned Sebastian Vettel a promotion to the Red Bull team the following year to replace Coulthard.

Vettel achieved Red Bull’s first F1 victory the following year and led the team to their first championships in 2010 alongside Mark Webber.

However, Toro Rosso became AlphaTauri and then Visa Cash App RB but have moved away from their roots of developing the team’s young talent.

Daniel Ricciardo is 35 and potentially at risk of losing his seat, while Yuki Tsunoda will enter a fifth campaign with the team in 2025.

Liam Lawson is the leading candidate to fulfil the role of a young rookie making their way in F1 with the team, with Isack Hadjar and Arvid Lindblad hoping to follow him.

However, Coulthard isn’t sure that Toro Rosso should have ever been in the position they were in on the grid, especially during his time with Red Bull.