Anthony Davidson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Anthony Davidson
Davidson in 2019
Born	Anthony Denis Davidson (1979-04-18) 18 April 1979 (age 46) Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
Spouse(s)	Carrie Bond ​ (m. 2006)​
Children	2
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Years active	2012–2021
Teams	Toyota, DragonSpeed, Jota
Starts	59
Championships	1 (2014)
Wins	13
Podiums	31
Poles	4
Fastest laps	2
Best finish	1st in 2014 (LMP1)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	2002, 2005, 2007–2008
Teams	Minardi, BAR, Super Aguri
Entries	24 (24 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2002 Hungarian Grand Prix
Last entry	2008 Spanish Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	2003, 2009–2017, 2019–2021
Teams	Prodrive, Aston Martin, Peugeot, Toyota, DragonSpeed, Jota
Best finish	2nd (2013)
Class wins	0

Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British former racing driver and broadcaster. He raced in Formula One from 2002 to 2008. Anthony also won the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2014 with the Toyota team.

Born in Hemel Hempstead, Anthony started karting when he was eight years old. He quickly became successful in races across the UK and Europe. In 1999, he moved into single-seater cars and won several championships. He became a test driver for the BAR Formula One team in 2001. Anthony made his Formula One debut in 2002. He later joined Super Aguri as a full-time driver in 2007.

After his time in Formula One, Anthony moved to sportscar racing. He competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship from 2012 to 2017 with Toyota. He won the championship in 2014 with his teammate Sébastien Buemi. Anthony retired from racing at the end of the 2021 season. Besides racing, he is also a well-known commentator and expert for the BBC and Sky Sports F1. He also lends his voice to the F1 video game series.

Anthony's Racing Journey

Anthony Davidson began his racing career in kart racing in 1987. He won three British championships and one Italian championship. In 1999, he started racing Formula Ford cars. He won the British Formula Ford festival that year. The next year, he was runner-up in the British Formula Ford championship. He also won the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch.

In 2001, Anthony raced in the British Formula Three championship with the Carlin team. He finished second overall, just behind his teammate Takuma Sato. He also won the Formula Three Pau Grand Prix and the Spa Masters.

Formula One Adventures

BAR and Minardi Teams

In late 2000, Anthony Davidson became a test driver for the British American Racing (BAR) Formula One team. In 2002, he got a chance to race for the Minardi team in two Grands Prix. He filled in for driver Alex Yoong. Anthony's qualifying times were very close to his teammate Mark Webber. However, he had to retire from both races.

He continued as a test driver for BAR in 2003 and 2004. BAR was able to use a third car for testing on Friday mornings, which was Anthony's job. He often showed impressive speed. In 2005, he got another chance to race for BAR at the 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix. Unfortunately, his engine stopped after only two laps.

Racing with Honda

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

In 2006, Anthony continued as a test driver for BAR, which was now called Honda Racing F1. Since Honda was not one of the top four teams the year before, they could use a third car on Fridays. This gave Anthony a bigger role. He also started working as a television commentator for ITV Sport that year. In 2008, he returned to Honda as a test driver for a short time.

Time with Super Aguri

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

On 15 November 2006, the Super Aguri team announced that Anthony Davidson would be one of their main drivers for the 2007 Formula One season. This was his first time as a regular Formula One driver.

At the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, Anthony was in third place when his car hit a groundhog on the track. This caused damage and he finished 11th, missing out on points. At the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix, his car's suspension broke after a crash, forcing him to stop. He finished the season without scoring any points.

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

Super Aguri kept Anthony for the 2008 season, but the team faced money problems. On 6 May 2008, Super Aguri had to leave Formula One. This meant Anthony no longer had a racing seat in F1.

Back to Honda and Mercedes

Anthony was announced as a Honda test driver for the rest of 2008. In December 2008, Honda also left Formula One. Ross Brawn then bought the team and created Brawn GP. Anthony became a test driver for Brawn GP. In 2009, Mercedes-Benz bought Brawn GP and renamed it Mercedes GP. Anthony continued as a reserve and development driver.

From 2010 onwards, Anthony focused on racing sports cars. However, he kept his connection with the Mercedes F1 Team. He worked as a reserve and simulator driver in 2010 and 2011, and continued his simulator role from 2012.

Sportscar Racing Career

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

Anthony Davidson raced for the Aston Martin Racing team in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans race. His team finished 13th overall. He returned in 2010, driving for the Team Peugeot Total. His team won the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring race. However, in the Le Mans race that year, his Peugeot car had an engine problem while leading. Later in 2010, Anthony won the 6 Hours of Silverstone with teammate Nicolas Minassian.

In 2011, racing for Peugeot Sport, Anthony won the 6 Hours of Spa and finished 4th at the Le Mans 24 Hours. He also won the 6 Hours of Imola and the 6 Hours of Zhuhai. These wins helped Peugeot Sport win the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) Championship.

When Peugeot stopped racing sports cars, Anthony signed with Toyota. He drove their Toyota TS030 Hybrid car in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. Five hours into the race, Anthony's car crashed with another car. His car went airborne and hit the barriers hard. He was taken to the hospital and was found to have fractures in his back.

In 2013, Anthony continued racing with Toyota for the full season. He finished third in the drivers' championship and second at Le Mans. For the 2014 season, he drove Toyota's new car, the Toyota TS040 Hybrid. He won four races that year and finished third in the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans. He became the 2014 World Endurance Drivers' Champion with his teammate Sébastien Buemi. The next two years were not as successful for him.

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

The 2017 season showed an improvement. Anthony and his teammates won five races for Toyota. However, he finished third in the drivers' championship.

In 2018, Anthony moved to a test and reserve role for Toyota. This was to allow Fernando Alonso to race. He made his first race appearance in 2018 at Silverstone. He drove in the LMP2 class for the DragonSpeed team and finished fourth.

Life Beyond Driving

Being a Commentator

Anthony Davidson has also become a co-commentator for BBC Radio 5 Live for some Grand Prix races. In 2009, he became a permanent commentator alongside David Croft. He continued this role until 2011.

In 2011, Sky Sports announced that Anthony would join their team as an analyst for race weekends. He started commentating on practice sessions from the 2012 season. He also commentated for Sky Sports F1 when regular commentators were unavailable.

Since 2022, he has been one of the main commentators for the FIA World Endurance Championship world broadcast.

His Racing Helmet

Anthony Davidson shared that his helmet design was inspired by Eddie Cheever's helmet. When he was young and starting in karting, he saw a picture of Cheever's helmet. With his father, who was a graphic designer, he changed the colors to match the flags of the UK and the EU. He has used this design throughout his entire career.

Working with Codemasters F1 Games

Anthony Davidson has worked as an advisor for Codemasters since 2009. He helped with games like F1 2009 and F1 2010. His helmet design is even available for players to choose in the game. He continued to work on later F1 games, including F1 2011, F1 2012, and all games up to F1 25. He and David Croft also appear as commentators in these games.

Personal Life

On 11 August 2006, Anthony married his girlfriend Carrie in Banbury, Oxfordshire. They live in Brackley. His brother, Andrew Davidson, was on the first series of the TV show Big Brother in the UK.

Anthony was also friends with the late Dan Wheldon, who was a famous IndyCar driver, when they were growing up.

Racing Records

Here are some summaries of Anthony Davidson's racing career.

Career Summary

† In addition to competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, Peugeot Sport only contested selected events in the 2010 and 2011 Le Mans and American Le Mans Series.
^‡ As Davidson was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

British Formula Three Championship Results

(key) (Races in bold mean pole position) (Races in italics mean fastest lap)

Formula One Race Results

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

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

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
2015	Toyota Racing	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	LMP1	386	8th	8th
2016	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	384	NC	NC
2017	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	358	8th	2nd
2019	DragonSpeed	Roberto González Pastor Maldonado	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	245	DNF	DNF
2020	Jota Sport	Roberto González António Félix da Costa	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	370	6th	2nd
2021	Jota	Roberto González António Félix da Costa	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	358	13th	8th
Sources:

FIA World Endurance Championship Results

See also

In Spanish: Anthony Davidson para niños