Anthony Davidson

Anthony Davidson
Davidson at the Silverstone Round of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship
Nationality	British
Born	Anthony Denis Davidson (1979-04-18) 18 April 1979 Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
Formula One World Championship career Active years 2002, 2005, 2007–2008 Teams Minardi, BAR, Super Aguri Races 24 Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 0 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 2002 Hungarian Grand Prix Last race 2008 Spanish Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 2003, 2009 - Teams Veloqx Prodrive Racing Aston Martin Racing Team Peugeot Total Toyota Racing Best finish 2nd (2013) Class wins 0

Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British professional racing driver from England. He has raced in Formula One for Minardi and Super Aguri, and has been a test and/or reserve driver for the British American Racing, Honda and Brawn GP teams. He is currently a factory driver for the Toyota Le Mans team, an analyst for the Sky Sports F1 HD television channel, and simulator driver for Mercedes AMG Petronas.^[1] Davidson is the current WEC World Champion, having won the series with a race to spare, alongside partner, Sebastian Buemi.

Career

Born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, Davidson began kart racing in 1987, competing in various British, European and North American championships. He won three British championships (93, 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.^[2] 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.^[2]

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^[2] and the FIA European Cup.

Formula One

BAR and Minardi

In late 2000, Davidson became the test driver for the British American Racing (BAR) Formula One team for the 2001 season.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[2]

He was not given a chance to race in 2003 and remained as test driver at BAR. Race drivers were Takuma Sato and Davidson's countryman Jenson Button who joined the team from Renault. When Sato was promoted to the race team following the departure of Jacques Villeneuve, it presented Davidson with the opportunity to become third driver.^[2] 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.

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. 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.

Honda

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. In 2008 Davidson returned to Honda as test driver for the testing at Spain's Circuit de Catalunya whilst Honda test driver Alexander Wurz was racing at Le Mans.^[5]

Super Aguri

On 15 November 2006, Super Aguri confirmed that Davidson would partner Takuma Sato for the 2007 Formula One season.^[6] Thus, he became a regular Formula One driver for the 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 6 May 2008 Super Aguri withdrew from the Championship leaving Davidson without a race seat.

Return to Honda

Davidson was announced as a Honda test driver for the remainder of 2008. On 5 December 2008 Honda pulled out of Formula One due to financial problems. Ross Brawn bought out the team and formed Brawn GP and Davidson signed on as a test driver. On 16 November 2009, engine suppliers Mercedes-Benz bought out Brawn GP and renamed the team Mercedes GP. Davidson continued in his role and reserve and development driver.

Sportscars

Davidson raced for the Aston Martin Racing team in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, alongside Darren Turner and Jos Verstappen. His team drove Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 in the LMP1 class, which finished 13th overall in the race. He returned in the 2010 edition, driving for defending champions Team Peugeot Total alongside Alexander Wurz and Marc Gené.^[7] The trio warmed up for Le Mans by leading a Peugeot 1-2 in the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring.^[8] However, in the Le Mans race his Peugeot car had an engine failure while leading. Following Le Mans, Davidson raced at the 2010 6 Hours of Silverstone with Nicolas Minassian and secured victory for Peugeot Sport. In October 2010, Davidson secured pole position at Petit Le Mans, and went on to finish second with team-mates Alex Wurz and Marc Gené.

In 2011, racing the 908 for Peugeot Sport, Davidson along with Wurz and Gené, won the 6 Hours of Spa, and finished 4th at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Teaming up with Sébastien Bourdais, Davidson went on to win the 6 Hours of Imola, and the 6 Hours of Zhuhai, victories which helped Peugeot Sport secure the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) Championship for the second year running.

With Peugeot pulling out of factory sports car competition, Davidson signed with Toyota to drive its Toyota TS030 Hybrid in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[9] Five hours into the race,^[10] as Davidson was lapping the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GTC of Piergiuseppe Perazzini, the two cars collided at the end of the Mulsanne Straight. The collision turned Davidson's car sideways before becoming airborne, flipping through the air, before landing back on its wheels and made heavy contact with the barriers.^[11] Davidson initially tried to get out of his car before calling for assistance; he was later transferred to hospital where he was later diagnosed with fractures to the eleventh and twelfth thoracic vertebrae of his back.^[12]

In 2013, Davidson continued driving with Toyota for a full season and ended with third place in the drivers' championship. For the 2014 season, he drove Toyota's new car Toyota TS040 Hybrid, winning 4 races, and became 2014 World Endurance Drivers' Champion with Sébastien Buemi.

Commentating

He has since been heard as a co-commentator on selected Grands Prix for BBC Radio 5 Live. This became permanent on 13 February 2009, when it was announced he would commentate alongside David Croft for the 2009 season.^[13] Davidson has continued in the role through 2010 into 2011, as the BBC decided on an unchanged lineup for its radio Formula One coverage.^[14] On 7 December 2011, Sky Sports announced that Davidson would join its British team as an analyst for race weekends, and would be commentating on practice sessions from the 2012 season.^[15]

Helmet

During the studio for the 2013 USA Grand Prix Qualifying Davidson admitted that his design was inspired by Eddie Cheever's helmet. When he was in the early days of his career he saw the picture of Eddie's helmet and together with his father who is a graphic designer did the design he has been using for most of his career.

Mercedes (2011–present)

Davidson was linked with incoming teams Virgin and Lotus for the 2010 F1 season.^[16] However, Davidson did not secure a 2010 race seat in F1, and instead turned his focus to racing sports cars. In F1 he continued his long-standing relationship with the Brackley based Mercedes F1 Team, combining duties as reserve and simulator driver in 2010 and 2011, and continuing his simulator role into 2012 and 2013.

Codemasters Formula One games

Davidson has been working as an advisor for Codemasters since 2009 with F1 2009, and F1 2010 which was released in September 2010. His helmet design is available to select for the user's driver in the game. He later worked with Codemasters-Birmingham on F1 2011 and F1 2012.

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. When Andrew was up for eviction in week two, housemate Darren nominated him giving the reason for the nomination, being that his brother had a race the following week and would want to leave the house to see him. Andrew was evicted that week.

He was friends growing up with the late Dan Wheldon, who competed in Indy Car.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Final Placing
1999	British Formula Ford Winter Series	Haywood Racing Preparations	5	5	5	47	1st
2000	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup	Manor Motorsport	1	0	0	4	29th
	TOCA British Formula Ford	Haywood Racing	14	2	3	122	3rd
	Formula Ford Festival World Cup		1	1	1	N/A	1st
2001	Formula One	Lucky Strike BAR Honda	Test driver
	British Formula Three	Carlin Motorsport	26	7	6	272	2nd
	European Formula Three Cup Series		4	1	2	N/A	1st
	Masters of Formula Three		1	0	0	N/A	3rd
2002	Formula One	Go KL Minardi Asiatech	2	0	0	N/A	NC
		Lucky Strike BAR Honda	Test driver
2003	Formula One	Lucky Strike BAR Honda	Test driver
	American Le Mans Series	Veloqx/Prodrive Racing (GTS)	2	0	0	44	11th
	Le Mans 24 Hours		1	0	0	N/A	NC
2004	Formula One	Lucky Strike BAR Honda	Test driver
2005	Formula One	Lucky Strike BAR Honda	1	0	0	0	NC
2006	Formula One	Lucky Strike Honda Racing F1 Team	Test driver
2007	Formula One	Super Aguri F1 Team	17	0	0	0	23rd
2008	Formula One	Super Aguri F1 Team	4	0	0	0	22nd
		Honda Racing F1 Team	Test driver
2009	Formula One	Brawn GP F1 Team	Test driver
	Le Mans 24 Hours	Aston Martin Racing (LMP1)	1	0	0	N/A	13th
	FIA GT Championship	Nissan Motorsport (GT1)	1	1	1	N/A	N/A
2010	American Le Mans Series	Peugeot Sport† (LMP1)	1	1	1	N/A	N/A
	Le Mans Series		1	0	0	11	15th
	Le Mans 24 Hours		1	0	0	N/A	NC
2011	American Le Mans Series	Peugeot Sport† (LMP1)	2	1	1	N/A	N/A
	Le Mans Series		2	2	1	31	N/A
	Le Mans 24 Hours		1	0	0	N/A	4th
	Formula One	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	Test driver
2012	Le Mans 24 Hours	Toyota Racing (LMP1)	1	0	0	N/A	DNF
2013	Formula One	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Test driver
	World Endurance Championship	Toyota Racing (LMP1)	8	0	1	106.25	3rd
	Le Mans 24 Hours	Toyota Racing (LMP1)	1	0	0	N/A	2nd
2014	World Endurance Championship	Toyota Racing (LMP1-H)	8	2	4	166	1st
	Le Mans 24 Hours	Toyota Racing (LMP1-H)	1	0	0	N/A	3rd

^† In addition to competing in the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans race, Peugeot Sport only contested selected events in the 2010 Le Mans and American Le Mans Series.

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			NC	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	NC	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	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	CHN	BRA		22nd	0

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2003	Veloqx Prodrive Racing	Kelvin Burt Darren Turner	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello	GTS	176	DNF	DNF
2009	Aston Martin Racing	Darren Turner Jos Verstappen	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	LMP1	342	13th	11th
2010	Team Peugeot Total	Alexander Wurz Marc Gené	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	LMP1	360	DNF	DNF
2011	Peugeot Sport Total	Alexander Wurz Marc Gené	Peugeot 908	LMP1	351	4th	4th
2012	Toyota Racing	Sébastien Buemi Stéphane Sarrazin	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	LMP1	82	DNF	DNF
2013	Toyota Racing	Sébastien Buemi Stéphane Sarrazin	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	LMP1	347	2nd	2nd
2014	Toyota Racing	Sébastien Buemi Nicolas Lapierre	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	LMP1-H	374	3rd	3rd

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2012	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	Toyota 3.4 L V8 (Hybrid)	SEB	SPA	LMS Ret	SIL	SÃO	BHR	FUJ	SHA	NC	0
2013	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	Toyota 3.4 L V8 (Hybrid)	SIL 3	SPA 4	LMS 2	SÃO Ret	COA 2	FUJ 15	SHA Ret	BHR 1	3rd	106.25
2014	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	Toyota 3.7 L V8 (Hybrid)	SIL 1	SPA 1	LMS 3	COA 3	FUJ 1	SHA 1	BHR 10	SÃO 2	1st	166
2015	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	Toyota 3.7 L V8 (Hybrid)	SIL 3	SPA	LMS	NÜR	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR	3rd*	15*

* Season in progress.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anthony Davidson.

• Official website
• Anthony Davidson career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Ricardo van der Ende	Formula Ford Festival Winner 2000	Succeeded by Alan van der Merwe
Preceded by Jonathan Cochet	FIA European Formula Three Cup / Pau Grand Prix winner 2001	Succeeded by Renaud Derlot
Preceded by Tom Kristensen Allan McNish Loïc Duval	FIA World Endurance Champion 2014 with: Sébastien Buemi	Succeeded by Incumbent
Awards
Preceded by Gary Paffett	McLaren Autosport BRDC Award 2000	Succeeded by Steven Kane

Minardi F1 Team Founder Giancarlo Minardi Owners Flavio Briatore (1996) Gabriele Rumi (1996–2000) Paul Stoddart (2001–2005) Personnel Andy Bendell Gustav Brunner Giacomo Caliri Aldo Costa Gabriele Tredozi Notable drivers (See all) Christijan Albers Michele Alboreto Luca Badoer Zsolt Baumgartner Gianmaria Bruni Adrián Campos Andrea de Cesaris Anthony Davidson Christian Fittipaldi Marc Gené Pedro Lamy Tarso Marques Pierluigi Martini Gianni Morbidelli Roberto Moreno Luis Pérez-Sala Jos Verstappen Justin Wilson Alex Yoong Alessandro Zanardi Notable rookies Alessandro Nannini Giancarlo Fisichella Jarno Trulli Fernando Alonso Mark Webber Formula One cars M185 M185B M186 M187 M188 M188B M189 M190 M191 M192 M193 M193B M194 M195 M195B M197 M198 M01 M02 PS01 PS02 PS03 PS04 PS04B PS05

British American Racing Founder Craig Pollock Staff Adrian Reynard David Richards Nick Fry Drivers Jacques Villeneuve Jenson Button Takuma Sato Olivier Panis Ricardo Zonta Mika Salo Anthony Davidson Formula One cars 01 002 003 004 005 006 007

Super Aguri F1 Team Founder Aguri Suzuki Personnel Mark Preston Daniele Audetto Drivers Takuma Sato Anthony Davidson Yuji Ide Franck Montagny Sakon Yamamoto Formula One cars SA05 SA06 SA07 SA08

Winners of the Chris Bristow Trophy for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award 1989: David Coulthard 1990: Gareth Rees 1991: Oliver Gavin 1992: Dario Franchitti 1993: Ralph Firman 1994: Jamie Davies 1995: Jonny Kane 1996: Darren Turner 1997: Andrew Kirkaldy 1998: Jenson Button 1999: Gary Paffett 2000: Anthony Davidson 2001: Steven Kane 2002: Jamie Green 2003: Alex Lloyd 2004: Paul di Resta 2005: Oliver Jarvis 2006: Oliver Turvey 2007: Stefan Wilson 2008: Alexander Sims 2009: Dean Smith 2010: Lewis Williamson 2011: Oliver Rowland 2012: Jake Dennis 2013: Matt Parry 2014: George Russell

Winners of the 12 Hours of Sebring Six-time Tom Kristensen Five-time Rinaldo Capello Four-time Frank Biela Allan McNish Three-time Mario Andretti Marco Werner Two-time Bob Akin Geoff Brabham Derek Daly Andy Evans Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio II Olivier Gendebien Hurley Haywood Hans Herrmann Phil Hill Al Holbert Jacky Ickx Stefan Johansson JJ Lehto Emanuele Pirro Brian Redman Hans-Joachim Stuck Eric van de Poele Fermín Vélez Andy Wallace Phil Walters One-time Aïello Alboreto Baker Baldi Barbosa Barbour Behra Bernhard Bianchi Bonnier Bourdais Gary Brabham Castellotti Collard Collins Daigh Dalmas Davidson de Narváez Dumas Duval Dyer Earl Elford Fässler Fitch Fittipaldi Fitzpatrick Foyt Franchitti Frisselle Garretson Gartner Gené Giunti Gray Gregg Gurney Hall Hawthorn Helmick Herbert Heyer Jarvis Kaffer Keyser Kulok Lapierre Larrousse Leven Lloyd Ludwig Luyendyk Maglioli Mass McFarlin McLaren Mendez Miles Millen Moffat Moretti Morton Moss Mullen Müller Nierop O'Connell Oliver Pace Panis Parkes Paul, Jr. Paul, Sr. Pescatori Peter Pruett Rahal Robinson Rojas Ruby Scarfiotti Sharp Siffert Surtees Taylor Theys Tréluyer Vaccarella Wollek Woods Wurz

Mercedes-Benz in Formula One, Grand Prix racing and Sportscar racing   Mercedes GP/Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team (2010–present) Executive Directors Toto Wolff (Business) Paddy Lowe (Technical) Current personnel Aldo Costa Niki Lauda James Vowles Geoff Willis Former personnel Bob Bell Ross Brawn Jock Clear Nick Fry Norbert Haug 2015 Race drivers 6. Nico Rosberg 44. Lewis Hamilton 2015 Test and reserve drivers Pascal Wehrlein Anthony Davidson World Champions Lewis Hamilton Notable drivers   Michael Schumacher Drivers' titles 2014 Constructors' titles 2014 Formula One cars MGP W01 MGP W02 F1 W03 F1 W04 F1 W05 Hybrid F1 W06 Hybrid Engine division Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains   Daimler-Benz AG (1908-1914, 1934–1939, 1954–1955) Team personnel Alfred Neubauer Max Sailer Rudolf Uhlenhaut World Champions Juan Manuel Fangio European Champions Rudolf Caracciola Notable drivers   Louis Chiron   Luigi Fagioli   Hans Herrmann   Karl Kling   Hermann Lang   Christian Lautenschlager   Stirling Moss   Piero Taruffi   Richard Seaman   Manfred von Brauchitsch   Louis Wagner Drivers' titles 1954 1955 Formula One cars W196 Grand Prix cars GP W25 W125 W154 Voiturette cars W165   Endurance Sportscar racing (1925-1931, 1952-1955, 1990-1991, 1997-1999) Personnel Alfred Neubauer Max Sailer Rudolf Uhlenhaut Peter Sauber Norbert Haug Drivers Rudolf Caracciola Manfred von Brauchitsch Hans Stuck Karl Kling Herrmann Lang Juan Manuel Fangio Stirling Moss Hans Herrmann John Fitch Pierre Levegh Karl Wendlinger Michael Schumacher Jochen Mass Jean-Louis Schlesser Jonathan Palmer Mark Webber Christophe Bouchut Nick Heidfeld Peter Dumbreck Bernd Schneider Pedro Lamy Cars Monza SSK W194 300 SLR C9 (Sauber) C11 (Sauber) C291 (Sauber) C292 (Sauber) CLK-LM CLR   Mercedes as a Formula One engine manufacturer Drivers' titles 1954 1955 1998 1999 2008 2009 2014 Constructors' titles 1998 2009 2014