Monaco's for wimps -- driving ace David Coulthard wants a shot at Mumbai's roads

“I wonder how there are no crashes,” remarks recently retired Formula One racer David Coulthard as he surveys Mumbai traffic.

In town over the weekend to promote Red Bull and drive an F1 car on the new Bandra-Worli Sea Link without exceeding 200 miles per hour -- lest he "take off" over the sea and is asked to "pay aviation charges" -- Coulthard cuts a dashing figure with thin gray stubble lining his famously square jaw.

By the time we catch up with him, however, Coulthard looks slightly disheveled by his Mumbai experience. He shakes hands and then immediately has an assistant spray sanitizer on his hand. He fishes out a bottle of cough syrup and takes a manly swig.

“Too much air-conditioning, too much of moving in and out of heat,” he coughs.

After driving for the likes of Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, Coulthard retired last year after 15 years of racing on the F1 circuit. Though he won no championships, he won 13 Grand Prix titles and retired with the fourth-highest number of points in GP history. He's now a commentator for the BBC, hotelier in Monaco and spokesman for Red Bull. 

On his maiden visit to India, the Scotsman is shocked by the traffic and amazed at how “it all works despite the chaos." Ask him if he'd rather take on a hairpin in Monza or drive in Mumbai and he picks the latter. “If people here can do it, so can I.”