Anthony Davidson set to remain at Honda Racing F1

By Phil Huff
January 7 2006

Anthony Davidson is set to remain as Honda Racing F1's third driver, despite the possibility of a race drive at Honda-backed outfit Super Aguri F1.

"We are hoping that he's going to be our third driver," explains Honda Racing F1's Nick Fry. "I think that a combination of Jenson, Rubens and Anthony will be absolutely top line."

Davidson's contract is clear cut: If Anthony gets a race drive with another team, Honda Racing F1 can do nothing to stop that. However, that won't prevent the team attempting to make a better offer.

"Clearly we've got a moral and legal obligation to allow Anthony to race if someone else offers him a race drive," explains Fry, "but we're hoping very much he stays with us because he'll have a great year and learn a lot from Jenson and Rubens and they'll be a great team.

"If he's given the opportunity the following year, once Aguri has had the chance to get up to speed, then I think that will be great for him."

Even Super Aguri seem to accept that Davidson may be a wasted talent initially, with their managing director, Daniele Audetto, commenting that "it is not likely we will be fully competitive. It is better for Anthony to carry on with his role developing the Honda F1 car."

Hinting that the Aguri could be considering a driver swap process, much like Red Bull's system in 2005, Audetto explained that "that may change when we have our new chassis."

Super Aguri expect to start racing with a modified Arrows A23 chassis, before coming out with their own chassis as the European season starts. The new chassis will not be based on the 2005 BAR Honda 007, with Fry saying that Super Aguri "are an independent team and they will have their own chassis and it won't be a BAR chassis."