Anthony Davidson: Super Aguri Years, a Toyota Endurance Title and a Broadcasting Career

Anthony Davidson is a former British driver whose career ran from junior single-seaters through Formula One to the top class of the World Endurance Championship. Born in Hemel Hempstead, he won a string of British titles in the 1990s and later drove a full Formula One season for Super Aguri. He then turned to sports cars, where he took 13 wins in the WEC's top class, and he has since become one of the best-known voices in motorsport broadcasting.

The thread running through his career is consistency rather than headline results. He was a test driver for long stretches, and his most notable success came in endurance racing with Toyota.

How did Davidson start in karting and single-seaters?

Davidson began kart racing in 1987 and went on to win three British karting championships during the nineties, plus an Italian title. The 1996 Formula A European championship ended with him as runner-up. By 1999 he had switched to Formula Ford, winning the 1600cc Kent class at the British festival.

His breakthrough came in 2000. He was runner-up in the British Formula Ford championship but won the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, and he was named McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year that season.

In 2001 he raced in the British Formula Three Championship with Carlin, finishing second overall behind teammate Takuma Sato. From June that season he outscored Sato through to the end of the year. From June that season he outscored Sato through to the end of the year. He also won the Pau Grand Prix, the Spa Masters and the FIA European Cup that year, and the results marked him as a driver with a future in single-seaters.

Super Aguri, a Toyota endurance crown in 2014 and a career in the commentary box that followed the racing.

What was his test driver role at BAR like?

Davidson became the British American Racing test driver in late 2000 for the 2001 season. In 2002 he also tested a Champ Car at Road America with Team KOOL Green, helping with traction-control development in a test arranged by Honda, his Formula One employer. He then made two starts for Minardi, replacing Alex Yoong in Hungary and Belgium. His qualifying times were within six-tenths of a second of teammate Mark Webber on both weekends, but he spun out of both races.

BAR kept him on as a test driver through 2003, when Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button raced for the team. Sato was later promoted to the race team, which opened the third-driver role for Davidson. In 2004 the team ran a third car in Friday morning testing, which became his job. Other teams noted his consistent lap times for tyre degradation data, and at Indianapolis he set the second-fastest Friday practice time after 19 laps.

In November 2004 BAR and Williams failed to agree a deal that would have let Davidson race for Williams in 2005, which put his chances of a race seat in doubt. He stood in for an unwell Takuma Sato at the 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix, but his engine failed after two laps.

Honda took over the team in 2006, and Davidson became test driver for Honda Racing F1. In 2008 he was back as a Honda test driver at the Circuit de Catalunya while Alexander Wurz raced at Le Mans. In 2008 he was back as a Honda test driver at the Circuit de Catalunya while Alexander Wurz raced at Le Mans. That year he also made his television debut, standing in for Martin Brundle for ITV at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

How did his full-time Super Aguri season go?

On 15 November 2006 Super Aguri confirmed Davidson alongside Takuma Sato for 2007, his first regular Formula One drive. Sato was an old rival from their Carlin days. Sato was an old rival from their Carlin days. He finished 23rd in the championship without scoring, and his best results were 11th places at the Spanish, Canadian and United States Grands Prix in the SA07.

In Canada he was running third when his car hit a groundhog on the straight before the pit lane, which dropped him to 11th. At the Hungarian Grand Prix a collision with Giancarlo Fisichella broke his rear suspension, and he retired.

Financial problems then threatened the team. Super Aguri kept Davidson for 2008, but on 6 May 2008 it withdrew from the championship and left him without a race seat.

What was his reserve role with Honda, Brawn and Mercedes?

Honda pulled out of Formula One on 5 December 2008. Ross Brawn bought the team and formed Brawn GP, and Davidson signed on as a test driver. When Mercedes-Benz bought Brawn GP on 16 November 2009 and renamed it Mercedes GP, he continued as a reserve and development driver.

He was linked with the new Virgin and Lotus teams for 2010, but he did not secure a race seat. He combined reserve and simulator duties with Mercedes in 2010 and 2011, and he kept the simulator role from 2012 at the Brackley base.

What did he achieve at Le Mans and in sports cars?

Davidson raced for Aston Martin at the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours with Darren Turner and Jos Verstappen. Their Lola-Aston Martin finished 13th overall. He then drove for Peugeot in 2010 and 2011, winning the 6 Hours of Silverstone in 2010 with Nicolas Minassian and the 6 Hours of Spa in 2011 with Alexander Wurz and Marc Gene.

The Peugeot team also led a one-two at the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring with Wurz and Gene before the Le Mans race. At Le Mans in 2010 his Peugeot suffered an engine failure while it was leading. In 2011 the Peugeot team finished fourth at Le Mans. In 2011 he teamed up with Sebastien Bourdais to win the 6 Hours of Imola and the 6 Hours of Zhuhai, helping Peugeot Sport secure the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup title for a second year running.

His 2012 Le Mans was a serious accident. In a Toyota TS030 Hybrid he was lapping an AF Corse Ferrari when the two cars collided on the Mulsanne Straight. His car was sent sideways and then airborne before landing heavily on the barriers. He got out before calling for help, and he was later diagnosed with fractures to the eleventh and twelfth thoracic vertebrae.

How did the 2014 WEC title come about?

Davidson stayed with Toyota's works team in 2013 and 2014. In 2014 he and Sebastien Buemi won the World Endurance Drivers' Championship, with the TS040 Hybrid taking four wins across the season. He also finished third at Le Mans that year.

Buemi was his regular team-mate in those seasons, sharing the 2013 Le Mans runner-up result and the 2014 title, which stands as the high point of his top-class career.

The two seasons after the title were less successful. Toyota gave him two third-place finishes, with fifth in the championship in 2015 and eighth in 2016.

The 2017 season showed an improvement, with five victories and one further podium. A sixth place at Le Mans and missing the Circuit of the Americas round for personal reasons left him third in the standings.

Toyota then moved him into a test and reserve role. When Fernando Alonso took his place in the car for the 2018-19 superseason, Davidson did not compete in the first two races. His first race of that period came at Silverstone in 2018, driving for DragonSpeed in LMP2, where he finished fourth in class.

The LMP2 years were a step down in class, but he kept racing regularly with DragonSpeed and Jota for three seasons. Across his WEC career in the top class he made 40 starts and took 13 wins, and he was runner-up at the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans. He spent three further seasons in LMP2 with DragonSpeed and Jota before retiring at the end of the 2021 campaign.

What is his role in broadcasting and games?

Davidson became a BBC Radio 5 Live co-commentator in 2009, working alongside David Croft. The role was made permanent on 13 February 2009, and he continued through 2010 and 2011. On 7 December 2011 Sky Sports announced him as an analyst, and from 2012 he also commentated on practice sessions.

Davidson and David Croft worked as a pair for the BBC on Radio 5 Live, and that partnership carried on into Formula One coverage on Sky Sports and the Codemasters games. Those games roles ran alongside his commentary work through the 2010s and early 2020s.

He stood in for Paul di Resta on commentary at the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix, when di Resta was covering for Martin Brundle. Since 2022 he has also called WEC races on the world feed, alongside Martin Haven and Graham Goodwin.

Davidson has advised Codemasters on the F1 video game series since 2009, when F1 2009 was in development. His helmet design can be selected for the driver in the game, and he and David Croft have appeared as commentators in the series from F1 2015 through to F1 25.

Helmet design and personal life

In the studio for the 2013 United States Grand Prix qualifying, Davidson said his helmet was inspired by Eddie Cheever's design, which he had first seen as a karting driver. As a karting driver he had his father, a graphic designer, swap the Arizona state flag colours for those of the UK and EU flags, a scheme he kept throughout his career.

He married Carrie on 11 August 2006 in Banbury, and the couple live in Brackley. He grew up friends with the late Dan Wheldon, who competed in IndyCar.

Career summary