Driven by Safety
At the ninth annual ADNOC Safety Day, the 13-time Grand Prix winner and broadcaster discusses managing risk, empowering people and performing at the highest level
Driven by Safety: David Coulthard Reveals Formula 1s Safety Culture and the Parallels with ADNOC At the ninth annual ADNOC Safety Day, the 13-time Grand Prix winner and broadcaster discusses managing risk, empowering people and performing at the highest level
The Scotsman won 13 Grand Prix races in his F1 career before moving into broadcasting
26 Oct 2026û5 min read For someone who earned a living driving at 200 miles per hour, David Coulthard has a confession that may surprise those listening to him speak at the ninth annual ADNOC Safety Day. ( Formula 1 drivers me, my former colleagues, current drivers we are risk-averse, says the 13-time Grand Prix winner. We dont like risk. We dont like leaving things to chance. Coulthard understands the consequences of risk more than most. His F1 career began in tragic circumstances in 1994, when he replaced Ayrton Senna at Williams after the three- time world champion was killed in a high-speed crash at Imola. He was one of the greatest drivers, says Coulthard of the legendary Brazilian, and we were faced with a scenario where, if one of the greatest could lose their life in a Grand Prix car, then we are clearly failing the greats.
Coulthard is pictured at Safety Day with ADNOCs Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) awardees
For Coulthard, the parallels between F1 and ADNOC are clear: both must build safety into how they prepare, operate and perform at the highest level. Our goals are exactly the same, Coulthard says. We want to make sure that at the end of the sports event the driver goes home safe. And all of you want to make sure that your greatest assets, your human assets, every single one of those men and women, go home from work safe. The key, he believes, is empowering people. Thats exactly what we do in Formula 1, the Scotsman, who also competed for McLaren and Red Bull in a 14-year career before moving into broadcasting, says. Sport teaches us a great deal. A Formula 1 team is relatively small in comparison to your organization. But every single member of that team is empowered to put their hand up and say, I see a problem. I have a question. We dont rule by fear. We rule by empowerment. We have a responsibility culture, not a blame culture. And that really enables people to operate at the highest level. Safety Day, held at the Energy Center in Abu Dhabi at the beginning of October and streamed to ADNOC facilities across the UAE, saw 15 employees from across the Groups operations presented with Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Awards.
WATCH: David Coulthard finds ADNOCs people-first culture highly impressive
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Coulthards message echoed ADNOCs Safe to Thrive theme: that safety is built through preparation, technology and teamwork, creating the conditions for sustained performance. Appearing on the same stage before Coulthard, Chief HSE Officer Amir Gerges said ADNOC had recorded its best-ever safety performance during the height of one of the most challenging periods in its operational history. Still, in 2025, ADNOC completed 837 million workhours while reducing its total recordable injury rate to 0.10 per million workhours half the 2022 rate. More than 1,000 vehicles equipped with AI-enabled fatigue and distraction detection recorded zero crashes across 22 million monitored kilometers. Just as F1 teams build resilience before they face pressure on track, we build safety before we face challenges in our operations, says Gerges. That emphasis on preparation has long been central to safety in F1. Coulthard served as chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers Association during his career, working to improve safety in the sport. And what that association did, along with my fellow directors, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, my competitors, the people who wanted to beat me and guys I definitely wanted to beat, is come together every Grand Prix, Coulthard says. At those meetings, they discussed the risks ahead, regulations and circuit safety, constantly looking for ways to better protect drivers.
Chief HSE Officer Amir Gerges said ADNOC recorded its best-ever safety performance during the height of one of the most challenging periods in its operational history
A process was put in place where we could take every single incident on a racetrack and analyse it to its nth degree . Today, F1 combines vast amounts of data and technology with what Coulthard calls its most important data point the human reaction . Hope is not a strategy, the 55-year-old says. You dont apply hope when you go and sit in your safety meeting. What you do is apply and unleash all of that information. Observing ADNOC has left a lasting impression on Coulthard. Whats been really impressive, even before I went up on stage, Coulthard says, is the people-first culture that is here, and the recognition of the individuals that make up the team. Its very easy in companies to look at senior management, and when a companys successful, to look to them as the reason why the companys successful and of course, leadership plays its part. But what's absolutely clear here with ADNOC is that leadership has spent a lot of time empowering the people that are actually out there in the front line, doing your work. He adds: And that is what makes a winning team. Trusting your people, empowering them.
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