David Coulthard shares what Michael Schumacher ‘may as well’ have had written on his Formula 1 cars

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David Coulthard was very competitive throughout his Formula 1 career, racing for teams including McLaren and Red Bull, laying the foundations for the Austrian team’s championship success.

The British driver won 13 Grands Prix, 12 of them at McLaren, during a monstrous era of very high-level drivers.

Coulthard won the Monaco Grand Prix on two occasions and was very strong at some circuits but lacked the consistency needed to win a championship.

He also competed well against his teammate Mika Hakkinen in the Woking-based team and was very compliant when it came to team orders.

Coulthard had some brutal duels with Michael Schumacher on the circuit during their time at the front of the field. He explained on The Red Flags Podcast that the German should have had one thing written on his car.

David Coulthard thinks Michael Schumacher should have had ‘approach with caution’ on his rear wing

Coulthard feels Schumacher’s car should have had a written warning on the rear wing as drivers looked to overtake the German.

He was brutal in wheel-to-wheel combat but did step over the limit at times. Schumacher collided with his title rival Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez in 1997, in a move that got him disqualified from the championship.

Schumacher won his first title three years earlier after a controversial incident at Adelaide, running into Damon Hill which gave him the title.

READ MORE: David Coulthard sends Michael Schumacher warning to Ferrari after signing Lewis Hamilton for next season

The seven-time world champion also came to blows with Coulthard after they made contact in Argentina in 1998. Coulthard, driving for McLaren at the time, ran wide, and the pair touched. He was pitched into a spin while Schumacher continued to take the lead.

Schumacher was usurped by his rival in France two years later. Coulthard passed the Ferrari driver and went on to win at Magny-Cours.

He was hung out to dry multiple times at Adelaide hairpin in a now infamous battle for the lead in a race the British driver had to win.

Coulthard surprisingly explained Schumacher’s harshness on the circuit was good to deal with as you had to be performing at your best.

He said: “You approach different drivers in different ways. Michael may as well have had ‘approach with caution’ written on the rear wing because unless you absolutely got it alongside him, you would expect him to close down the gap.

“And that was in his racing DNA. I don’t have a problem with the consistent behaviour of somebody. It’s when you’ve got these inconsistent people, the ones that say hello one day, the next day, they ignore you.

“I struggle with that. It’s like, what is going on with them? Michael was consistent. He was consistently hard on the racetrack. That actually is something that then becomes fun to deal with because you know you’re going to be in your A game if you’re going to beat him.”

Michael Schumacher’s approach to wheel-to-wheel combat is similar to Max Verstappen

Schumacher was uncompromising when battling other drivers during his career, coming out on top most of the time.

Max Verstappen deploys a similar approach as he is on the verge of his fourth consecutive Formula 1 world championship.

The Dutchman was particularly brutal in 2021 when he fought Lewis Hamilton for his first world championship. He pushed right up to the limit, particularly off the line when he took the lead at Imola and in Spain.

Gabriel Bortoleto admires Verstappen for his driving and the Brazilian will be looking to battle the Dutchman as he joins the F1 grid next year with Sauber.