Now campaigning his 15th consecutive season at 37 years old, David Coulthard is Formula One's elder statesman. His 236 grands prix contested to date is second only to Rubens Barrichello's 261, and the Scotsman has elevated his suffering of the latest batch of rookies each season to an art form. But that may be winding to a close, as DC looks into the future.

With rumors of Red Bull promoting its young driver Sebastian Vettel out of the Toro Rosso junior team and into Coulthard's seat, the veteran driver is admitting it might be time to hang up the helmet and move on. And what does he think of the proposition? "Boo hoo.... There are a lot of worse things that can happen to you. You just move on to the next challenge."

The next obvious question is what the next challenge will be for the perennial fixture of the F1 grid. He's already discounted the notion of moving to another team. Rumors suggest he could move into a management role in the Red Bull team he helped establish. Others suggest he could buy out Toro Rosso with the cash he's liquidating from the sale of his five-star Columbus hotel in Monaco (realizing what was previously just a joke). A third possibility pegs him as a commentator for BBC's Formula One coverage. What he's committed to avoid, however, is following his longtime friend Jacques Villeneuve in pursuit of a NASCAR seat, or reverting to any other racing series for that matter. "After F1, everything else is a step down."

[Sources: autosport and F1-Live; photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images for Puma]

The End of an Era: David Coulthard to retire? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

David Coulthard is getting older, but his driving doesn't seem to be getting any better. The Scottish driver does, however, have an innate ability for survival, remaining the oldest driver on the F1 grid after having just celebrated his 37th birthday days ago.

It was Coulthard who pitched the failing Jaguar Racing team to Dietrich Mateschitz, convincing the Red Bull chief to become a team owner. Now that Mateschitz has announced his intention to sell his 50% stake in the Italian team, a report has surfaced indicating that Coulthard is going to buy out his current boss and switch over to the new team starting in 2010. According to the unsubstantiated report, the deal would secure Coulthard a race seat for many, many years to come, while fellow F1 driving veteran Gerhard Berger would retain his half and stay on as team principal. Coulthard also indicated that the team could switch from Ferrari to Mercedes power and be renamed Coulthard Power Racing (CPR), which raises the distinct possibility that, it being April 1st, this entire story could be hoax. Sigh... is this day over yet?

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty]

April Foolery: Coulthard buys Toro Rosso originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.