The street circuit in Valencia played host to the 12th round of the championship and saw DC drive the 57-lap race for the first and last time ahead of his retirement.
A race filled with incidents from start to finish landed one Ferrari mechanic in hospital after he was hit during a pit stop by Kimi Raikkonen and saw a near-miss by team mate Felippe Massa as he left the pits a touch too close to a preceding car.
A miserable qualifying session saw DC start on row nine of the grid and over 112,000 fans witnessed a disastrous first lap as the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima ran into him, forcing the Japanese driver's front wing off which was ran over by one-time champion and local hero Fernando Alonso.
Alonso, already angry over not being allowed to hold a one-minute silence for the victims of the Madrid air crash, was then forced to retire pushing DC up a place which seemed to give him the confidence to attack a few more back markers.
But lap eight brought another dampener on things as DC attempted an overtaking move on the Force India car of Adrian Sutil, which Sutil failed to notice and he sent the Scot spinning on the track as the two cars took the tight corner side by side. David later took responsibility for the touch but lost two places after the incident and once the pit stops began the Twynholm-born racer was unable to regain places against the fast-paced engines of the Ferraris, McLarens and Williams'.
DC later said: "I aborted the manoeuvre and made contact with Sutil, so sorry to him for that. That damaged my barge board and the side of the car, so after that the balance and downforce were very poor."
A strategy blunder by Ferrari saw Massa come in to pit and he was spat back out again, heavy with fuel, in front of team mate Kimi Raikkonen which slowed the Finn down.
The Finn later took an early shower after his engine blew, but not before he hospitalised a mechanic after he accelerated away from his pit stall while the fuel nozzle was still attached to his car, leaving mechanic Pietro Timpini with a minor fracture to his left foot.
Massa was under investigation for releasing his car from a pit stop into the path of Adrian Sutil's freshly-refuelled car, but a fine and a rap on the knuckles was all he faced.
The end result saw Massa take the winner's trophy alongside second place man Lewis Hamilton, who retains the championship lead.