David began karting as soon as he was permitted, at the age of 11, and was encouraged and supported by his father Duncan who provided DC with the finance and resources to go Karting every weekend. He raced karts for six years, moving south once he had started to win local championships. He regarded Rowrah, in Cumbria, as his home circuit. It was there that he won the Cumbria Kart Racing Club championship in 1985, a year after Allan McNish.

At the age of 12 he became Scottish Junior Kart Champion, a title which he successfully defended until 1986 when he moved into the Open Championship.

Fellow Dumfries & Galloway born Scot, Allan McNish, credited the start given to him, David, and Dario Franchitti largely to David Leslie, senior and junior who ran a Karting club at "The Cults" just outside Castle Kennedy near the ferry port of Stranraer.

David graduated to Formula Ford in 1989 where he took not only the Dunlop / Autosport Championship but also the P&O Ferries Junior Championship as well. This culminated in his receiving the first award of the prestigious McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year award.

In 1990, he suffered a broken leg at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, but came back the following year to win Formula Three races at Zandvoort, Netherlands and Macau, China when he moved to British Formula 3

In 1992 DC entered the Formula 3000 series with Paul Stewart Racing and he also stayed there for the 1993 season. 1992 was a busy year as he also raced for Jaguar in the GT Class of the Le Mans 24 Hour. (a race he would go on to win) and he also tested for the Camel Benetton Ford F1 team.

A year later, in 1993, he would test for the Canon Williams Renault F1 team, in the FW15C car and as a result would become the Williams test driver for the 1994 Formula One season.

He raced just once in the F3000 championship in 1994, gaining a 2nd place.

Following Ayrton Senna's death at Imola, he was promoted from test driver to the race team alongside Damon Hill for the Spanish Grand Prix. He spent much of the season driving the second car, but had to step aside for ex-champion Nigel Mansell on four occasions.

David showed flashes of speed, but errors and bad luck saw him take just one podium, a second-place finish at Estoril. For the last three races he had to sit back and watch Mansell take his place, but it was he, and not Mansell, who would race for Williams full-time in 1995 although David was forced by the FIA Contract Recognition Board to fulfill his contract with Williams despite having an option to race for McLaren that season.

The 1995 season saw David win his first Grand Prix at the Portuguese Grand Prix and there were other races where he could have won, but poor luck and mistakes once more cost him. He did score five pole positions, four of them consecutively but when Williams were firming up their driver lineup for the 1996 season in July, DC had already signed for McLaren to partner Finn Mika Hakkinen.

His first season with McLaren was unremarkable, as the Mercedes-powered team struggled to find speed. In 1997, in his second year with McLaren, he finished the drivers championship tied with Jean Alesi for third place (after the disqualification of Michael Schumacher). He had taken two wins and could have added more, but for problems. At Montreal he was leading, but was brought into the pits for a precautionary stop. Coulthard stalled his engine twice whilst trying to exit the pits, losing his lead in the process. What made this even more frustrating for Coulthard was that the race was stopped just a few minutes later due to Olivier Panis' crash. If Coulthard had not pitted, he would have won the race.

At Jerez, Coulthard was running in 2nd place towards the end of the race and was catching race leader Jacques Villeneuve after his earlier collision with Michael Schumacher. Due to team orders, Coulthard was forced by McLaren to allow his teammate, who was running close behind him, into 2nd place. On the final lap of the race, Villeneuve let both McLarens by and Coulthard thus felt he maybe should have won the race.

In 1998, the McLaren was consistently the fastest car on track, but it was Häkkinen who made the most of it, winning the title. David took just one win and spent most of the year in a supporting role after a spate of unreliability issues.

In 1999, a combination of more unreliability and bad luck saw him finish the season in fourth place. Häkkinen became champion, whilst DC won twice.

In 2000, he was involved in a tight battle for the drivers championship with Schumacher and Häkkinen, but eventually fell out of contention into a disappointing third place finish. In 2001 he finished the year in second place, but with barely half the points (65) tallied by runaway winner Schumacher (123).

David's subsequent years at McLaren, from 2002 through 2004, were disappointing and many of his critics argued that the decline began in 2003, when the FIA introduced the single-lap qualifying format. He openly admitted that he did not like the format and was a vocal opponent of it. With the announcement that Juan Pablo Montoya was to join McLaren in 2005 alongside Räikkönen, 2004 was to be Coulthard's last year with the team.

Red Bull Racing were attracted by Coulthard's experience and signed him for the 2005 Formula One season. He was teamed with the inexperienced Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi and his contract at Red Bull Racing was also extended prior to the 2005 British Grand Prix, prolonging his Formula One career to at least the end of 2006. Coulthard's stint at Red Bull was a renewal for the Scottish driver, who scored points in many races and in 2006 continued at Red Bull, partnered again with Christian Klien.

Technical director Adrian Newey joined the team from McLaren to design the 2007 car and DC stated that he wished to remain with the team after the 2006 season, and to add to his victory tally with them. On 7 August 2006, the day after the Hungarian Grand Prix where he finished 5th, it was announced the he had extended his contract with Red Bull Racing for 2007 and would be teamed up with Mark Webber.

After a slow start to the 2007 season, David delivered two strong drives at the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Spanish Grand Prix where he picked up the team's first points of the season.

His 2008 campaign got off to a bad start after a racing incident with Felipe Massa however despite a series of poor performances, over the course of the 2008 season, he came back and managed to secure a hard fought 3rd place at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, the 62nd podium finish of his Formula One career.

On the Thursday before the 2008 British Grand Prix, David announced that he would retire at the end of the season, but would remain at Red Bull as a consultant. For his final race, he competed in a car with a one-off livery promoting the charity "Wings for Life" but only made it to the second corner on the first lap after he was hit from behind by Nico Rosberg's Williams.

By his own admission, his poor qualifying performances put him in the middle of the pack where bumps and scrapes are commonplace. After scoring only 8 points in his final season, Coulthard remained characteristically appreciative of what F1 had given him over the last 15 years.