Anthony Davidson
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Anthony Davidson (born April 18, 1979 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England) is a British formula one race car driver for the Super Aguri F1 formula one team. Although "The Mad Ant" has successfully etched his name with the rest of the British drivers who have broken into the world of formula one, namely Lewis Hamilton, David Coulthard and Jenson Button, he has yet to achieve the same amount of success as his compatriots.
Despite starting out his racing career at a very young age, Davidson made it into the world of F1 rather "prematurely" and at a unopportuned situation, which many believe is the reason why he has not gotten the break that a brilliant driver of his caliber deserves. His strength of character that came in handy after all those frustrating years spent as a test and reserve driver may once again be of good use once Davidson competes for the "smaller" Super Aguri squad.
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Personal Life
Anthony was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire but is now residing in Brackley, Northamptonshire with wife Carrie whom he married on the 11th of August, 2006 in Banbury, Oxfordshire. Apparently, Anthony is not the only celebrity among the Davidson siblings as his brother Andrew has appeared in the first series of Big Brother in the UK while another brother, Ian, is also into racing and was the British champion in HPI challenge stock nitro 1/10th scale in 2001. During his free time, Anthony enjoys mountain biking, cycling, running, and listening to music. He is also into gadgets and computers and also considers photography and travel among his interests. The first car he owned was a Vauxhall Nova.
Career
Early Career
Davidson went through the usual racing rout, starting his career with karting at an early age of eight when he competed in a then recently established "cadet" class which was below the traditional junior level. There he competed in several British, European and North American championships, winning the RAC MSA Junior British Karting title in 1994 and 1995 then tallying runner-up finishes in the CIK/FIA Karting Championship in 1996 and in 1997 in Europe and Oceania, respectively. He went on to compete in the WKA/FMK/FIA North American Karting Championship in 1998 where he placed third then karted his way the following year to a runner-up finish in the Italian Karting Open Championship.
After spending about 13 years in karting, he later moved on to cars in 1999 and raced Formula Fords, winning the 1600 cc Kent engine class of the British Formula Ford festival in his debut at Brands Hatch. That victory eventually set him a spot at the full UK event the following season. He claimed a runner-up finish at the Formula Ford Zetec British Championship and bagged the Formula Ford Festival World Cup, even adding the McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year accolades to his growing list of awards. His remarkable run eventually landed him spots at the Carlin Motorsport to race in Formula Three, and with British American Racing (BAR)-Honda to test drive for the Formula One team.
In 2001, he competed in British F3 and finished runner up to Carlin teammate Takuma Sato with six wins, then added the Pau Grand Prix, Elf Masters and European titles that same year. But the year ended on a low note after a crash during practices at the Macau Grand Prix got him hospitalized. He decided later on to concentrate on his Formula One career with BAR.
BAR (2001-05)
Davidson began his F1 career testdriving for the BAR Honda team, and after performing quite well in test sessions, he was hired as a temporary replacement to Alex Yoong at Minardi in 2002, whom the team suspended after failing to qualify in three races. His hiring actually came with a stroke of luck as Minardi originally had Justin Wilson in mind to replace Yoong, but decided to go with Davidson to pair up with Mark Webber as Wilson was too tall. As a rookie, Davidson performed quite well in the qualifying of the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix, placing within 0.6 seconds of teammate Webber. Unfortunately, he was retired on both races and was not able to race again in the remaining three events.
The following year, he fully relinquished his seats at Minardi and returned to his test-driving duties at BAR Honda alongside former F3 teammate Takuma Sato. While waiting for another opportunity to race, Davidson spent most of 2003 as an official reserve at Jaguar Racing and competed in the both the American Le Mans Series (11th place) and the Le Mans 24 Hours with the Prodrive Veloqx team.
Sato was eventually elevated to the main roster in 2004 after Jacques Villeneuve left the team which "automatically" promoted Davidson to reserve/third driver status. The promotion came in handy that after a rule change allowed the bottom six teams to field in a third challenger in the Friday practice sessions. Although he was quite impressive on those races, other people criticized the validity of his 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. Nonetheless, his efforts gained an offer from the Williams team which formerly gave Button the opportunity to race for the team only to be forced to stay with BAR by the Contract Recognition Board. Unfortunately, Davidson would also suffer the same fate and was prevented to join the Williams squad as his team wanted first call on his services for 2006 and beyond.
The disagreement between Williams and BAR would put Davidson's Formula One aspirations in jeopardy, putting himself back on reserve duties at BAR in 2005. His only race that year came in the 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix when Sato was sidelined by sickness, ending the race with an engine failure in the third lap.
Honda (2006)
Davidson returned as a test driver for BAR which was now taken over by Honda and was rechristened Honda Racing F1 with Button and newly hired Rubens Barrichello comprising the racing squad. Davidson was also allowed to race on Fridays after the former BAR team finished outside of the top four constructors the previous season. Davidson, who did some radio commentary work for BBC Radio 5 Live in the past, also had a short television stint with his debut as commentator for ITV Sport in place of Martin Brundle at the Hungarian Grand Prix, incidentally won by teammate Button and his Honda racing squad. In his 36 Friday morning sessions, Davidson recorded 8 fastest overall lap times, was runner-up 11 times, and had 3 third place finishes.
Super Aguri (2007)
Davidson finally got the chance to become a full-time driver when the new Super Aguri team announced on November of the previous year that they had aquired the Britton's services, once again teaming up with former F3 teammate Sato. This was Davidson's first full-time gig, with his 2007 debut happening in the Australian Grand Prix. Davidson's maiden year at Super Aguri was a struggle, as he failed to place in the top 10 in all races with his highest being his 11th place finishes in Spain, Canada, and the US GPs. He had his best chance to score in Canada after going as high as third only to be sidetracked by a groundhog back to 11th place. He ended the season with five retirements and a scoreless 23rd place finish in the Driver's Championship.
Despite a fruitless total, Davidson has shown that he can keep up with a better experienced teammate as he has outpaced Sato on the latter stages of the tournament.
Results and Records
Career Summary
| Season | Series | Team Name | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Final Placing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | British Formula Ford Winter Series | ? | ? | ? | ? | 47 | 1st |
| 2000 | Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup | ? | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 29th |
| British Formula Ford | Haywood Racing | ? | ? | 3 | 122 | 3rd | |
| Formula Ford Festival | 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 | Carlin Motorsport | 1 | 1 | 1 | N/A | 1st | |
| Masters of Formula Three | ? | 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 | |||||
Complete Formula One Results
References
- Anthony Davidson Crash.net Profile
- Anthony Davidson F1-Live.com Profile
- Anthony Davidson Formula One Database Profile
- Anthony Davidson Wikipedia
- Anthony Davidson: British F1 Driver Comes Into His Own at Super Aguri Team
External Links
Categories: Formula One drivers | Super Aguri drivers | British drivers | British Formula One drivers
