Ex-F1 driver Anthony Davidson to retire from racing

Former Formula 1 driver Anthony Davidson has announced that he will end his competitive racing career after one final outing in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

"One more to go. Which I’ve decided will also be my final race as a professional racing driver," Davidson tweeted on Sunday, a day after finishing on the podium of the LMP2 category with Jota Racing in the Bahrain 6 Hours.

"It’s been an incredible and unforgettable journey and I thank all those involved along the way," he added.

After starting in kart racing aged eight, the 42-year-old British driver found early success by winning the 1999 British Formula Ford Winter Series championship and the Formula Ford Festival World Cup the following year.

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Clinching the European Formula Three Cup Series and ending as runner up in the 2001 British Formula 3 Championship set Davidson on course for Formula 1 when he took a test driver role with the Lucky Strike BAR Honda squad.

He made his Grand Prix debut in the 2002 Hungarian Grand Prix for KL Minardi Asiatech alongside Mark Webber and also took part in the Belgian GP the same year. But it was a long wait until his next grid appearance in the 2005 Malaysian GP standing in for Takuma Sato alongside Jenson Button.

He finally had a chance of a full season of competition with Super Aguri in 2007 and for four more events in 2008, ending up appearing in a total of 24 Grand Prix races before the team was forced to withdraw from competition.

He was subsequently reserve driver at Brawn GP when it won the 2009 championship. Since then Davidson has forged a successful career in endurance racing with factory roles at Peugeot and Toyota, and also served as one of the Mercedes F1 team's lead simulator drivers.

He won the 2014 WEC drivers’ championship with Toyota, while twice finishing on the overall podium in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Japanese manufacturer.

Davidson lost his role in Toyota's LMP1 line-up in 2017 to Fernando Alonso, which turned out to be something of a blessing.

Davidson told Motorsport.com last summer that he had already considered retiring at the end of 2019 season when he hit 40 after signing a new deal with Toyota.

"When I signed that contract I saw it as three more years of trying to win Le Mans with Toyota," he said. "I definitely toyed with the idea of just stopping at that point."

He said that subsequently stepping back to LMP2 had rejuvenated his love of racing. "It's much more fun than racing for a manufacturer with all the pressure that comes with that.

"In a way I needed to fall in love with racing again, because I had completely lost the love for it at Toyota," he admitted.

This season Davidson has been competing in the FIA WEC LMP2 class for Jota Sport alongside co-drivers Roberto González and Portugal António Félix da Costa.

The trio was third this weekend's 6 Hours of Bahrain and is currently third in class, with one race remaining next weekend which Davidson has announced will be his final outing.

In between his track successes, 'Ant' has also become a popular and accomplished commentator and pundit, initially on BBC 5 Live's F1 coverage alongside David Croft and more recently as part of the team presenting Sky Sports F1.

Anthony's brother Andrew found fame even earlier as an original contestant on the UK version of the reality TV show Big Brother in 2000.

He was evicted in week two after a rival nominated him on the grounds that his brother had a race the following week and he would want to leave the house to see him.

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