Anthony Davidson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anthony Davidson
Davidson in 2007
Nationality  Flag of the United Kingdom British
Formula One World Championship career
Active years 2002, 2005, 20072008
Teams Minardi, BAR, Super Aguri
Races 24
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podium finishes    0
Career points 0
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First race 2002 Hungarian Grand Prix
Last race 2008 Spanish Grand Prix
Anthony Davidson demonstrating a Formula Two Brabham-Honda BT18 at the 2005 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Anthony Davidson demonstrating a Formula Two Brabham-Honda BT18 at the 2005 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England) is a British Formula One racing driver from England. He has raced for Minardi, Super Aguri and been a test driver for the British American Racing and Honda teams. He is currently without a race seat, due to the financial collapse of Super Aguri.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Davidson began kart racing in 1987, competing in various British, European and North American championships. He won 3 British championships (94, 94, 95) , one Italian championship and was runner-up in the Formula A European championship in 1996. In 1999, he moved to single seater cars, racing Formula Fords and winning the 1600 cc Kent engine class of the British Formula Ford festival that year.[1] The following season, he was runner-up in the British Formula Ford championship but did win the blue riband Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch and scooped the McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award.[1]

In 2001, Davidson competed in the British Formula Three championship with the Carlin team, finishing second overall to teammate Takuma Sato. His performance improved throughout the season and he outscored Sato from June until the season's end. He also won the Formula Three Pau Grand Prix, the Spa Masters[1] and the FIA European Cup.

[edit] Formula One

[edit] BAR

In late 2001, Davidson became the test driver for the British American Racing (BAR) Formula One team. The following season Davidson started two races for the small Minardi team, temporarily replacing regular driver Alex Yoong, who the team had decided to suspend after he had failed to qualify for three races. Minardi had originally planned to put Justin Wilson in the car, but he proved too tall.[2] Davidson's qualifying times were within 0.6s of teammate Mark Webber at his two starts in Hungary and Belgium, but he spun out of both events.[1]

He was not given a chance to race in 2003 and remained as test driver at BAR alongside Takuma Sato. When Sato was promoted to the race team following the departure of Jacques Villeneuve, it presented Davidson with the opportunity to become third driver.[1] This was especially useful in 2004 as BAR were able to run a third car in Friday morning testing, which became Davidson's duty. He frequently impressed with his pace, although some have questioned the validity of these times as a raw indicator due to the lack of need to conserve the car in the way race drivers Sato and Jenson Button did.[citation needed]

In November 2004, BAR announced that it had failed to come to an acceptable contractual agreement with the Williams team to allow Davidson to drive for Williams in 2005 because Williams would not agree to his unconditional "repatriation" to BAR in 2006.[citation needed] Given BAR's long-term contract on Davidson, his chance of securing a race seat for 2005 was therefore called into serious doubt. He was given the opportunity to fill in for an unwell Sato at the 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix, but his engine expired just two laps into the event.

[edit] Honda

Davidson as Honda's third driver at the 2006 United States Grand Prix.
Davidson as Honda's third driver at the 2006 United States Grand Prix.

In 2006 Davidson resumed his role as test driver for BAR, now owned by Honda and renamed Honda Racing F1. As BAR had failed to be one of the top four constructors the previous season Honda were able to run a third car on Friday, giving Davidson a bigger role than in 2005. Having previously done some radio commentary work for BBC Radio 5 Live, in 2006 he made his debut as a television commentator, standing in for the absent Martin Brundle for ITV Sport at the Hungarian Grand Prix, which was won by Jenson Button and the Honda team.

[edit] Super Aguri

Davidson driving for Super Aguri at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Davidson driving for Super Aguri at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix.

On 15 November 2006, Super Aguri confirmed that Davidson would partner Takuma Sato for the 2007 Formula One season.[3] Thus, he became a regular Formula One driver for first time.

At the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix Davidson was running third when his car struck a groundhog on the straight before the pits, ultimately putting him back to 11th place and ending his bid for his first career points. At the Hungarian Grand Prix Davidson's rear suspension was broken during a collision with Giancarlo Fisichella, which forced him to retire. Davidson finished the season in 23rd place having scored no points.

Amid financial problems which threatened their continued participation in Formula One, Super Aguri retained Davidson alongside team-mate Sato for 2008. However, on May 6, 2008 Super Aguri withdrew from the Championship leaving Davidson without a race seat.

[edit] Personal life

On 11 August 2006 Davidson married his girlfriend Carrie in Banbury, Oxfordshire. The couple live in Brackley. His brother Andrew Davidson appeared in the first series of Big Brother in the UK and his younger brother Ian Davidson was British champion in HPI challenge stock nitro 1/10th scale in 2001.

[edit] Racing record

[edit] Career summary

Season Series Team Name Races Poles Wins Points Final Placing
1999 British Formula Ford Winter Series Haywood Racing Preperations  ?  ?  ? 47 1st
2000 Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup  ? 8 0 0 4 29th
TOCA British Formula Ford Haywood Racing  ?  ? 3 122 3rd
Formula Ford Festival World Cup Haywood Racing 1 1 1 N/A 1st
2001 Formula One British American Racing Test driver
British Formula Three Carlin Motorsport 26 7 6 272 2nd
European Formula Three Cup Series Carlin Motorsport  ? 1 2  ? 1st
Masters of Formula Three Carlin Motorsport 1 0 0 N/A 3rd
2002 Formula One Minardi 2 0 0 N/A NC
British American Racing Test driver
2003 Formula One British American Racing Test driver
American Le Mans Series Veloqx/Prodrive Racing (GTS) 2 0 0 44 11th
Le Mans 24 Hours Veloqx/Prodrive Racing (GTS) 1 0 0 N/A NC
2004 Formula One British American Racing Test driver
2005 Formula One British American Racing 1 0 0 0 NC
2006 Formula One Honda Test driver
2007 Formula One Super Aguri 17 0 0 0 23rd
2008 Formula One Super Aguri 4 0 0 0 21st*

* Season in progress

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 WDC Points
2002 KL Minardi Asiatech Minardi PS02 Asiatech AT02 3.0 V10 AUS
MAL
BRA
SMR
ESP
AUT
MON
CAN
EUR
GBR
FRA
GER
HUN
Ret
BEL
Ret
ITA
USA
JPN
- 0
2004 Lucky Strike BAR Honda BAR 006 Honda RA004E 3.0 V10 AUS
TD
MAL
TD
BHR
TD
SMR
TD
ESP
TD
MON
TD
EUR
TD
CAN
TD
USA
TD
FRA
TD
GBR
TD
GER
TD
HUN
TD
BEL
TD
ITA
TD
CHN
TD
JPN
TD
BRA
TD
- -
2005 Lucky Strike BAR Honda BAR 007 Honda RA005E 3.0 V10 AUS
MAL
Ret
BHR
SMR
ESP
MON
EUR
CAN
USA
FRA
GBR
GER
HUN
TUR
ITA
BEL
BRA
JPN
CHN
- 0
2006 Lucky Strike Honda
Racing F1 Team
Honda RA106 Honda RA806E 2.4 V8 BHR
TD
MAL
TD
AUS
TD
SMR
TD
EUR
TD
ESP
TD
MON
TD
GBR
TD
CAN
TD
USA
TD
FRA
TD
GER
TD
HUN
TD
TUR
TD
ITA
TD
CHN
TD
JPN
TD
BRA
TD
- -
2007 Super Aguri F1 Super Aguri SA07 Honda RA807E 2.4 V8 AUS
16
MAL
16
BHR
16
ESP
11
MON
18
CAN
11
USA
11
FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
EUR
12
HUN
Ret
TUR
14
ITA
14
BEL
16
JPN
Ret
CHN
Ret
BRA
14
23rd 0
2008 Super Aguri F1 Super Aguri SA08 Honda RA808E 2.4 V8 AUS
Ret
MAL
15
BHR
16
ESP
Ret
TUR
WD
MON
CAN
FRA
GBR
GER
HUN
EUR
BEL
ITA
SIN
JPN
CHN
BRA
21st* 0*

* Season in progress

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Who's Who: Anthony Davidson. F1Fanatic.co.uk (2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  2. ^ Right Here, Right Now. www.justinwilson.co.uk (2008). Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
  3. ^ "Davidson confirmed at Super Aguri", Grandprix.com, 2006-11-15. Retrieved on 2006-11-15. 

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Ricardo van der Ende
Formula Ford Festival Winner
2000
Succeeded by
Alan van der Merwe
Preceded by
Jonathan Cochet
Formula Three Grand Prix de Pau Winner
2001
Succeeded by
Renaud Derlot
Awards
Preceded by
Gary Paffett
McLaren Autosport BRDC Award
2000
Succeeded by
Steven Kane