BEYOND THE GRID: Anthony Davidson on reaching the pinnacle through talent and testing

Racing twice in 2002 with Minardi and once again three years later with BAR Honda in 2005, Anthony Davidson’s Formula 1 career had a few false starts.

But in 2007, he finally got a full-time shot with Super Aguri. Although his F1 career ended just over a year later, Davidson is rightly proud to have reached the top of motorsport.

In the latest episode of Beyond The Grid, Davidson chats to host Tom Clarkson about the ups and down of his time in F1 – telling us why he was a better test driver than racing driver, and how his incredibly short-notice cameo at the 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix came about.

He also explains why a groundhog cost him his best-ever finish in F1, and what it was like to be involved in the so-called ‘tyre war era’ of Formula 1.

Davidson also opens up about winning the World Endurance Championship with Sebastien Buemi in 2014 and why that meant so much to him, having felt like “everything was lost” after F1.

Now a simulator driver for Mercedes alongside being a well-respected TV pundit, Davidson explains how much the sim technology has improved over time, what impact his work has on the team's performance during race weekends and whether sim racing makes Max Verstappen a better driver.

To listen to this week’s episode of Beyond The Grid, simply hit go on the audio player above or click here to listen via your preferred podcasting platform.

You can also check out a huge selection of previous episodes – spanning every decade of F1 – in our dedicated Beyond The Grid library here.