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Anthony Davidson

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Anthony Davidson
Davidson in 2019
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
BornAnthony Denis Davidson
(1979-04-18) 18 April 1979 (age 45)
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season2012
Current teamJota Sport
Car number38
Former teamsToyota Hybrid Racing, DragonSpeed
Starts53
Championships1 (LMP1)
Wins12
Poles3
Fastest laps2
Best finish1st in 2014
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years2003, 20092017, 2019
TeamsJota Sport (2020—)
DragonSpeed (2019)
Toyota Racing (2012–2017)
Peugeot Sport (2010–2011)
Aston Martin Racing (2009)
Veloqx Prodrive Racing (2003)
Best finish2nd (2013)
Class wins0
Formula One World Championship career
Active years2002, 2005, 20072008
TeamsMinardi, BAR, Super Aguri
Entries24 (24 starts)
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums0
Career points0
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
First entry2002 Hungarian Grand Prix
Last entry2008 Spanish Grand Prix

Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British racing driver who currently drives in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Jota Sport. He has raced in Formula One for Minardi and Super Aguri, and has been a test or reserve driver for the British American Racing, Honda, and Brawn GP teams. He is also an analyst for the Sky Sports F1 television channel, colour commentator for the F1 series of video games and a simulator and demonstration driver for Mercedes AMG Petronas.[1]

Davidson was the 2014 WEC World Champion, alongside his teammate, Sébastien Buemi.

Driving 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 Jacques Villeneuve and Davidson's countryman Jenson Button who joined the team from Renault. When Takuma Sato was promoted to the race team following the departure of 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, other teams frequently taking note of his consistent lap times for tyre degradation data. e.g. at Indianapolis he set the second fastest lap time in Friday practice after 19 laps.

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.

Honda

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 Five 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

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.[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.

Davidson driving for Super Aguri at the 2008 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Amid financial problems which threatened their continued participation in Formula One, Super Aguri retained Davidson alongside teammate 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 as reserve and development driver.

Mercedes (2011–present)

Davidson was linked with incoming teams Virgin and Lotus for the 2010 F1 season.[7] 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.

Sportscars

Davidson at Road Atlanta for the 2011 Petit Le Mans race.

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.[8] The trio warmed up for Le Mans by leading a Peugeot 1–2 in the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring.[9] 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 teammates 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.[10] Five hours into the race,[11] 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 3 remaining wheels before making heavy contact with the barriers.[12] Davidson got 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.[13]

In 2013, Davidson continued driving with Toyota for a full season and ended with third place in the drivers' championship and 2nd place at Le Mans with teammates Buemi and Sarrazin. For the 2014 season he remained with the Toyota works team and drove Toyota's new car, the Toyota TS040 Hybrid. During the year he won four races and finished third in the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans, and became 2014 World Endurance Drivers' Champion alongside co-driver Sébastien Buemi. The following two years were less successful, yielding only two third-place finishes and championship finishes in fifth in 2015 and eighth in 2016.

Davidson driving an Oreca 07 for DragonSpeed, at Silverstone Circuit in 2018

The 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship season showed an improvement in form, and Davidson and his co-drivers took five victories and one further podium finish for the Toyota team during the campaign. However, the performance of the Porsche team, a sixth-place finish at Le Mans, and missing the 2017 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas due to "personal reasons",[14] contributed to Davidson finishing the season only third in the drivers' championship standings.

Despite his 2017 performance, Davidson was the crew member of the number 8 Toyota entry who was moved aside to allow Fernando Alonso to contest the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship. Toyota switched Davidson backward into a test and reserve role, and he did not compete in the first two races of the 'superseason', including the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans. He made his first race appearance in 2018 at Silverstone, driving in the LMP2 class for American team DragonSpeed, where he finished fourth in class.

Non-driving activities

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.[15] Davidson has continued in the role through 2010 into 2011, as the BBC decided on an unchanged lineup for its radio Formula One coverage.[16] 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.[17]

He commentated alongside Croft for the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix to cover for Paul di Resta who was needed by Williams to cover for the ill Felipe Massa. Di Resta was himself covering for regular commentator Martin Brundle who was absent through illness with the same condition that afflicted Massa.

Helmet

In the studio for 2013 USA Grand Prix qualifying Davidson admitted that his design was inspired by Eddie Cheever's helmet. When he was in the early karting days of his career he saw the picture of Cheever's helmet and together with his father who was a graphic designer changed the colours from the Arizona state flag to the colours of the UK & EU flags which he has been using for all of his career.

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. Davidson and David Croft appeared in F1 2015, F1 2016, F1 2017, F1 2018, F1 2019 and F1 2020 as commentators.[18]

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 as a reason that his brother had a race the following week and he 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 IndyCar.

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Name Races Poles Wins Points Position
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
British Formula Ford Championship Haywood Racing 14 2 3 122 3rd
Formula Ford Festival World Cup 1 1 1 N/A 1st
2001 British Formula 3 Championship Carlin Motorsport 26 7 6 272 2nd
European Formula Three Cup Series 4 1 2 N/A 1st
Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 N/A 3rd
2002 Formula One Go KL Minardi Asiatech 2 0 0 N/A NC
2003 American Le Mans Series Veloqx/Prodrive Racing (GTS) 2 0 0 44 11th
Le Mans 24 Hours 1 0 0 N/A NC
2005 Formula One Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1 0 0 0 NC
2007 Formula One Super Aguri F1 Team 17 0 0 0 23rd
2008 Formula One Super Aguri F1 Team 4 0 0 0 22nd
2009 Le Mans 24 Hours Aston Martin Racing 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 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 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
2012 Le Mans 24 Hours Toyota Racing 1 0 0 N/A DNF
2013 FIA World Endurance Championship Toyota Racing 8 0 1 106.25 3rd
2014 FIA World Endurance Championship Toyota Racing 8 2 4 166 1st
2015 FIA World Endurance Championship Toyota Racing 8 0 0 79 5th
2016 FIA World Endurance Championship Toyota Gazoo Racing 8 0 0 60 8th
2017 FIA World Endurance Championship Toyota Gazoo Racing 8 0 5 168 3rd
2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 DragonSpeed 6 1 1 83 5th
2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 Jota Sport 7 0 1 142 4th
2020 European Le Mans Series Jota Sport 1 0 0 0 NC‡

† 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.
As Davidson was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

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

† Did not finish the race, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2003 United Kingdom Veloqx Prodrive Racing United Kingdom Kelvin Burt
United Kingdom Darren Turner
Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello GTS 176 DNF DNF
2009 United Kingdom Aston Martin Racing United Kingdom Darren Turner
Netherlands Jos Verstappen
Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 LMP1 342 13th 11th
2010 France Team Peugeot Total Austria Alexander Wurz
Spain Marc Gené
Peugeot 908 HDi FAP LMP1 360 DNF DNF
2011 France Peugeot Sport Total Austria Alexander Wurz
Spain Marc Gené
Peugeot 908 LMP1 351 4th 4th
2012 Japan Toyota Racing Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
France Stéphane Sarrazin
Toyota TS030 Hybrid LMP1 82 DNF DNF
2013 Japan Toyota Racing Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
France Stéphane Sarrazin
Toyota TS030 Hybrid LMP1 347 2nd 2nd
2014 Japan Toyota Racing Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
France Nicolas Lapierre
Toyota TS040 Hybrid LMP1-H 374 3rd 3rd
2015 Japan Toyota Racing Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
Japan Kazuki Nakajima
Toyota TS040 Hybrid LMP1 386 8th 8th
2016 Japan Toyota Gazoo Racing Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
Japan Kazuki Nakajima
Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 384 NC NC
2017 Japan Toyota Gazoo Racing Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
Japan Kazuki Nakajima
Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 358 8th 2nd
2019 United States DragonSpeed Mexico Roberto González
Venezuela Pastor Maldonado
Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 245 DNF DNF
2020 United Kingdom Jota Sport Mexico Roberto González
Portugal António Félix da Costa
Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 370 6th 2nd

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 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
8
LMS
8
NÜR
5
COA
4
FUJ
5
SHA
6
BHR
4
5th 79
2016 Toyota Gazoo Racing LMP1 Toyota TS050 Hybrid Toyota 2.4 L V6 (Hybrid) SIL
16
SPA
27
LMS
NC
NÜR
5
MEX
WD
COA
5
FUJ
4
SHA
3
BHR
4
8th 60
2017 Toyota Gazoo Racing LMP1 Toyota TS050 Hybrid Toyota 2.4 L V6 (Hybrid) SIL
1
SPA
1
LMS
6
NÜR
4
MEX
3
COA FUJ
1
SHA
1
BHR
1
3rd 168
2018–19 DragonSpeed LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 SPA LMS SIL
4
FUJ
6
SHA
2
SEB
3
SPA
1
LMS
Ret
5th 83
2019–20 Jota Sport LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 SIL FUJ
DSQ
SHA
1
BHR
2
COA
3
SPA
4
LMS
2
BHR
2
4th 142

References

  1. ^ "Anthony Davidson's Twitter Bio". Twitter. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Who's Who: Anthony Davidson". F1Fanatic.co.uk. 2006. Retrieved 13 December 2006.
  3. ^ "BAR signs Anthony Davidson as test driver". GPUpdate.net. 4 December 2000. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
  4. ^ "Right Here, Right Now". www.justinwilson.co.uk. 2008. Archived from the original on 13 November 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
  5. ^ "Davidson returns as Honda tester". BBC News. 12 June 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  6. ^ "Davidson confirmed at Super Aguri". Grandprix.com. 15 November 2006. Archived from the original on 17 November 2006. Retrieved 15 November 2006.
  7. ^ The 2010 Drivers Market Eurosport.Yahoo.com 6 November 2009
  8. ^ English, Steven (22 February 2010). "Davidson joins Peugeot for Le Mans". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
  9. ^ "Peugeot Takes 1-2 Finish at Sebring 12 Hours". American Le Mans Series. 20 March 2010. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  10. ^ Dagys, John. "Davidson Lands Toyota Drive". Web. SPEED.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012.
  11. ^ "Anthony Davidson in hospital after Le Mans 24 Hour race accident". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 June 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  12. ^ "Davidson crashes in Le Mans". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 17 June 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.[dead link]
  13. ^ Strang, Simon (17 June 2012). "Davidson sustains broken back following airborne crash at Le Mans". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  14. ^ "Stéphane Sarrazin to replace Anthony Davidson at COTA". FIA World Endurance Championship. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  15. ^ "Anthony Davidson joins Radio 5 Live's Formula One commentary team" (Press release). BBC. 13 February 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
  16. ^ "Davidson to continue BBC radio role". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 6 February 2010. Archived from the original on 9 February 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  17. ^ "Sky reveal 2012 team". Sky Sports. 9 December 2011. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  18. ^ "F1 2015 - ten reasons for gamers to get excited". Formula One. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Formula Ford Festival
Winner

2000
Succeeded by
Preceded by FIA European Formula Three Cup
/ Pau Grand Prix winner

2001
Succeeded by
Preceded by FIA World Endurance Champion
2014
With: Sébastien Buemi
Succeeded by
Awards
Preceded by McLaren Autosport BRDC Award
2000
Succeeded by