DESPITE reaching speeds of up to 200mph one former Formula One driver has admitted to drinking alcohol just minutes before a qualifying race.
F1 legend David Coulthard has recalled the time he sank a shot before he went out for qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix – on F1's notoriously fast Monza track.
The Scot is one of Britain's greatest ever drivers, but wouldn't attribute his success to boozing pre-race.
However it certainly didn't hamper his performance as he ended up securing pole position during the qualification in 1995 despite his secret sips.
Coulthard revealed the unexpected revelation on his podcast Formula For Success, when speaking to fellow ex-driver Gerhard Berger.
He said: "You [Berger] pulled me in and persuaded me that it was tradition in Monza before qualifying to have a schnapps.
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"I was a young, impressionable driver and you were a grand prix winner. You’ve got Niki [Lauda] there…
"Of course, you guys had set this up and I didn’t want to say no so they bring out three little glasses that looked like schnapps. For sure they were drinking water.
"They gave me a schnapps. This is about half an hour before qualifying. I take the schnapps, I go out, I’m in pole position. I got pole!”
But Berger wasn't having the light-hearted accusations that he was drinking water instead schnapps like his competitors.
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And instead he admitted that he used to drink alcohol before EVERY race.
He said: "David, I always drunk before qualifying, amaretto and then an espresso."
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