Why Red Bull was able to hand Coulthard RB19 test

The number of people to have driven what is statistically the greatest Formula 1 car of all-time is just five.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez sampled the RB19 throughout the year, with Jake Dennis and Isack Hadjar also getting a go in Abu Dhabi practice, and in then Dennis’s case, the post-season test.

The fifth member of the club is Red Bull ambassador and 13-time Grand Prix winner David Coulthard – the team’s first-ever driver.

Coulthard joined Red Bull in 2005 for the final chapter in his long career, earning the first points and podium for the team before retiring with a Turn 1 DNF in the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix – although that race is remembered for slightly different reasons…

Outside of official Grand Prix weekends and tests, each team is allowed to run a current car for 100km, twice per year.

Officially known as “Promotional Events”, these are commonly referred to as ‘filming days’, where rights-free and sponsor on-track content is captured while also allowing the team to shakedown its new new car when they are most often used before pre-season testing.

In Red Bull’s case, one of these filming days was allotted to Coulthard, whose exploits in the RB19 can be seen below!

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