David Coulthard - The Winning Formula: Leadership, Strategy and Motivation The F1 Way

THE WINNING FORMULA

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Designed by seagulls.net

Text copyright David Coulthard, Mark Gallagher and Martin Roach, 2018

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For Karen

I was sitting in front of Dietrich Mateschitz in his offices in Salzburg, about to sign for his new F1 team, a decision that represented one of the biggest risks of my career. The billionaire founder of Red Bull is an imposing man, a remarkable entrepreneur with a hugely successful energy drinks company, and a laser-like focus. He had never previously been the sole owner of an F1 team but had recently bought Jaguar F1 for $1. Intrigued by that development, I had been in discussions for some time about joining this new team. Having driven for established teams such as Williams and McLaren, joining Dietrichs new organisation was a gamble, and one that would secure me a significant pay cut, too. But it felt right, it felt exciting and my gut instinct was telling me that this was an opportunity not to be missed

When I walked off the racing circuit at Brazil in 2004, for all intents and purposes, my racing career in Formula 1 was over. I had been with McLaren for nine years but that famous team had recently decided not to renew my contract, so it appeared that the curtain might be coming down on my time in the sport I loved. Back at the start of the year, along with my contracts manager, Martin Brundle, Id been talking to Jaguar Racing, but through all the discussions I just didnt sense the passion or vision that I need to really commit to a new venture. Ultimately, I didnt have the belief that joining Jaguar would work for me. I even did a list with Martin in my apartment of the pros and cons of joining that team and there were a lot more cons than pros.

I still felt I had a lot to offer so after deciding against Jaguar, I spoke to a number of other more established teams. Renault, Ferrari and Williams had already filled their race seats, so I asked about testing for them, but to no avail. Fast-forward to the end of the year and after Red Bull bought Jaguar, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko quickly came on board as part of an impressive teammanagement structure and so, almost overnight, what had previously been an uninspiring option suddenly became an opportunity that was potentially hugely interesting to me. Initial talks went well, and I was subsequently invited to take part in a test at Jerez, which is when I first met Dietrich Mateschitz.

Speaking to Dietrich at trackside in Jerez, I was immediately struck by how focused, energised and determined he was to make his first foray into overall team ownership a total success. We talked about the resources needed to do that and he didnt baulk when I mentioned possible numbers. He clearly had experience in F1 already, having been a part of the Sauber management team for some time, but this was the first time he would be sole owner. I came away from that meeting hugely impressed and noticeably excited by the vision he and his team had proposed. Nonetheless, this was a far from straightforward choice. Dietrich certainly knew my industry but, in theory, for me to jump across to racing for a team with no front grid experience and only a very limited history in the sport was a big risk. In addition to the significant pay cut, there was absolutely no guarantee that I wouldnt just end up in an inferior car, racing from the back of the grid, week after week.

However, I just didnt see it like that. Here was a man with ideas and acumen; Dietrichs own staggering success with Red Bull speaks for itself. In terms of his approach to F1, he had empowered his team to start revitalising the struggling operation he had bought; in turn, they were keen to attract both established talent as well as nurture new motorsport brains; they were also open to investing the sort of resources Formula 1 requires and accumulatively this created a very attractive package that I was strongly drawn to. There just seemed like so many strong and promising business and motorsports elements coming together that it was hard not to be impressed.

So with the contracts agreed, I travelled to Dietrichs Salzburg offices to sign the documents. Id taken him a gift of a Theo Fennel replica of a Red Bull can that Id had made in silver with no lid, as a pencil holder for his desk. That was an idea actually inspired by Bernie Ecclestone, who had the very classy ritual of sending every race driver a silver telegram when theyd won their first grand prix, a stylish gesture that I duplicated here, hopefully to remind Dietrich of our meeting in the years to come.

As you can probably imagine, Mateschitz is a very impressive individual and sitting in his office that day I could sense that this was not a project that was going to fail. During our conversation, I pointed out that as part of my lower salary race package I had been given badges on my suit and helmet that I was allowed to sell to sponsors to increase my income. Now, I had no intention of selling those spaces so in that Salzburg meeting I said to Dietrich, Regarding these badges, Im assuming you dont want me selling them to Bananas R Us or put some lurid airline logos on there? He said he didnt want that and immediately offered to buy back the spaces. Simple, mutually beneficial, efficient.

My gut instinct was telling me that joining Red Bull was the right thing to do. Did I know at that point that I was joining a team that would go on to win four World Drivers and Constructors Championships? No, but like a lot of things in sport, business and life, you do your research, you weigh up the risks and the rewards, and then you back your instincts and make your decision. Multiple world titles would suggest that I made the right call. So I signed the contracts and began racing for Red Bull.

The success story of Mateschitz and Red Bull is a classic example of so many of the topics that I want to discuss in this book. Being a part of Red Bulls fantastic achievements was exhilarating and exciting, but it also taught me so much, just as the sport of Formula 1 has over the years. I have been fortunate to work for many years in an environment surrounded by highly driven individuals Sir Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Adrian Newey, Christian Horner, Dietrich Mateschitz, Sir Patrick Head, Michael Schumacher, Nigel Mansell and many more how can I have failed to learn from them?