Drivers

Anthony Davidson

Signed by BAR at the end of 2000 when he was just out of Formula Ford, having won the Formula Ford Festival that year but having been beaten the British national title by James Courtney. He was named the McLaren BRDC Young Driver of the Year and landed a deal for 2001 to race for Carlin Motorsport in the British Formula 3 Championship. He was beaten to the British title by Takuma Sato and at the end of the year had a big shunt in qualifying for the Macau GP and was forced to miss the event having suffered from a fractured vertebrae and torn ligaments in his neck. Despite this he was back in action for BAR in 2002, choosing not to race at all until Minardi decided to drop Alex Yoong for a couple of races. He did a solid job but not enough to attract attention and remained as BAR test driver in 2003 and 2004. His performances attracted the attention of Williams but contractual problems meant that he could not take up the offer of a test with Williams at the end of 2004. He stayed with BAR in 2005 and raced (albeit briefly) in Malaysia when Takuma Sato had to withdraw because of illness. The car lasted just a couple of laps. Davidson stayed with Honda in 2006 and his loyalty with Honda was finally rewarded with a race drive with Super Aguri F1 in 2007.