David Coulthard revealed a truly kind gesture from which showed huge respect for his rival. Coulthard in 1996 was in his first season with McLaren, while Schumacher had also just joined Ferrari.

During one race that year at the , the Scotsman's helmets were constantly misting up. "In the warm-up, I just couldn't see, my helmet at the time did not have the double visor which helped with fogging," Coulthard once said on the Making of a Legend documentary. And so he took the brave decision to ask his rival, Schumacher, if he could borrow his helmet.

Despite the unusual request, the German helped without hesitation and Coulthard finished second in a bizarre race that saw 15 out of 22 drivers retire or not even start, including Schumacher himself. Coulthard, 53, has now revealed that Schumacher not only let him wear the helmet but allowed him to keep it afterwards too, which he believes showcased their friendship and mutual respect, despite a growing rivalry.

Coulthard was speaking to his co-host Eddie Jordan on the latest episode of the , which was released on the same day (Thursday) the sad news of Jordan's death emerged, following a battle with prostate cancer, at the age of 76.

"I asked Michael if I could keep it and he said yes and then that helmet travelled with my parents back to Scotland," Coulthard said. "Michael, despite all the times we disagreed and fell out, he was a good off-track friend. It showed the respect I feel he had for my efforts, the fact he was prepared to not only lend me a helmet but let me keep it afterwards."

Coulthard and Schumacher's friendship is somewhat remarkable given their history of tension on the track. In 1998, they were involved in a huge collision at the beginning of the race in Spa, Belgium. The pair yelled at each other from afar, with Schumacher famously storming down the paddock to confront the Scot, before being restrained. But Coulthard admits the pair "kissed and made up" despite the "unfortunate blip" in their relationship.

He also expanded on the story of the now famous Marlboro adorned helmet, saying: "I do still have the helmet. Somebody who deals in memorabilia reached out to me to ask me to sign that very helmet because he was selling it.

"I said I think you'll find that the helmet that you think you're selling is not the original. The helmet's with my parents and I got a picture of my father holding it. Somebody out there has been creating replicas of the original and trying to flog it, which is a bit disappointing. I can assure you that the original went off my head, into my trainer's hands and back to Scotland."