Anthony Davidson

A counterpart of Jenson Button in their karting days, Davidson is a graduate of Britain's proven karting system, starting his career at the age of eight following the decision to create a 'cadet' class below the traditional junior structure. As a result, the Briton was able to enjoy a 13-year kart career – and it was a career as he was ultimately being paid as a works driver – before finally making the switch to cars. In that time, he was British, Asian and Oceania champion, runner-up in the European and Italian Open series and a podium finisher in America.

Having done just about all he could in karting, Davidson eventually made the switch to cars in 1999, when he made a handful of carefully chosen end-of-season Formula Ford events. That experiment culminated in him winning the Kent class of the annual FFord Festival at Brands Hatch and set him up for a tilt at the full UK championship the following year.

While Button was, by now, breaking into F1 with Williams, Davidson refused to be rushed, and added the full Formula Ford Festival title to runner-up spot in the British championship. His performances had not gone unnoticed – even at such a low level – however, and confirmation of an F3 seat with Carlin Motorsport was followed by a deal to test an F1 car with BAR-Honda.

Partnered by BAR team-mate Takuma Sato at Carlin, Davidson made a good fist of challenging for the title in his debut year, but ultimately had to give best to the sophomore Japanese, despite winning six races. He also added the prestigious Pau Grand Prix, Elf Masters and European titles for good measure, but ended his year in hospital having crashed heavily in practice for the Macau GP.

Whether or not affected by the incident, Davidson elected not to chase a race seat for 2002, preferring instead to concentrate on his burgeoning test role with BAR. His pace began to get him noticed elsewhere, however, and, when Alex Yoong was 'rested' by Minardi, Davidson got the call to replace him alongside Mark Webber at the Hungarian and Belgian grands prix. Sadly, the young Briton failed to shine and he retired from both events after spinning.

He remained in the testing role at BAR the following year, despite also being named as official reserve at Jaguar Racing, and rekindled his racing ambitions by contesting the Sebring and Le Mans sportscar events with the Prodrive Veloqx team, taking second in class at the former.

Rule changes for 2004 meant that Davidson, while still the third driver at BAR, got the chance to display his wares to a bigger audience, as the bottom six teams in F1 were allowed to field a third car in Friday practice. The Briton responded well, frequently lapping quicker than the established stars, and making himself the target of offers for 2005.

Among those chasing his services was the Williams team that had given old sparring partner Button his F1 debut and now had an opening because the Briton had been forced to stay at BAR by the Contract Recognition Board. Davidson, however, was also prevented from leaving the fold at Brackley, as BAR decided that it wanted first call on his services for 2006 and beyond – something that was contrary to Williams' desires.

As a result, Davidson found himself back on reserve driver duty, and this time without the chance to run on Fridays because of the contribution he made in helping BAR become one of the top four outfits the previous season. A rare race opportunity was handed to him after a feverish Sato became indisposed in Malaysia, but his car retired with engine failure on lap three. For 2006 Anthony once again supported Button and the newly recruited Barrichello but his loyalty was finally rewarded when Honda placed him in the Super Aguri team alongside Takuma Sato for 2007.

With the prospect of a handling quite a competitive machine, Davidson relished the chance to race regularly in Formula 1 at long last, and he acquitted himself more than respectably given his status as very much the number two to Takuma Sato. Although Anthony failed to score any points, he posted some very impressive qualifying performances, being quicker than his team mate by 10-7, the highlight being an exceptional eleventh place grid position in Istanbul.

Davidson’s chances of starting the 2008 season in Formula 1 were looking distinctly shaky throughout the off-season, given the parlous financial state in which the Super Aguri team found themselves at the end of the season. However such was the regard for Anthony, that potential pay drivers who were circling in anticipation of a race seat were to be rebuffed, as Aguri Suzuki secured last-minute backing to enable the team to participate in Melbourne.