Anthony Davidson
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 a test driver for Honda.
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. 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.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 and the FIA European Cup.
Formula One
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. 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.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. 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.
Super Aguri
On 15 November 2006, Super Aguri confirmed that Davidson would partner Takuma Sato for the 2007 Formula One season. 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 . However, on May 6 2008 Super Aguri withdrew from the Championship leaving Davidson without a race seat. He has since been heard as a co-commentator on selected Grands Prix for BBC Radio 5 Live.
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.Racing record
Career summary
Complete Formula One results
(F1 driver results legend 2) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)References
External links
- www.anthonydavidson.com
- Official Website 2: www.anthonydavidson.info
- Anthony Davidson Fan Forum
- Anthony Davidson profile and statistics
- Career statistics pre F1 and F1 career
- Some of Ant's dad's contributions to a debate at a discussion forum
- The Anthony Davidson Fan Site
- F1Fanatic Who's Who: Anthony Davidson
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Sunday October 05, 2008 at 02:27:28 PDT (GMT -0700)
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