One of the few highlights of the Turkish Grand Prix was Anthony Davidson's lap in qualifying that so nearly netted him a spot in the top ten on the grid. In the race itself, however, he lost places at the start and spent the rest of the time circulating fairly anonymously in what became 14th place by the end.
Anthony Davidson
It was typical of the bad luck that seems to dog Anthony. After hovering for many years on the edge of F1 as a test driver, 2007 was going to be his big break and we would see what he is really capable of. Unfortunately, every time he manages to get ahead of his team mate, Takuma Sato, and begins to impress, fate knocks him down again. The groundhog incident in Canada, that destroyed what was going to be a points finish, could only have happened to Anthony.
It leaves us still unable to make a fair assessment of his potential. And it looks as though his chance to make an impact could be drawing to a close. In common with Spyker, the Super Aguri team has hit financial difficulties and, inevitably, rumors of the sale of the team begin. If that happens, who knows what would happen to Davidson? Sato's name has appeared in a number of silly season rumors of driver changes but poor Anthony never gets a mention. Not even Toyota are interested, it seems.
In my opinion, those occasional flashes of speed show that Anthony can produce the goods when the car allows it. In the second half of the season he has generally been quicker than Sato, sometimes by a considerable margin, and his inconsistent form has been largely the result of outside influences beyond his control. It is quite likely that, given a seat in a more competitive team, he could shine just as brightly as some of the more hyped young drivers arriving in F1.
Unfortunately, team managers seem to take little account of circumstances when assessing applicants for a driver's seat. What they want to see is results and, so far, it has to be admitted that Anthony has very few to put forward. Even if he had a large amount of money to offer as a sweetener, the only takers would be one of the financially-strapped teams at the tail end of the grid and Anthony already knows how difficult it is to make your mark driving an uncompetitive car.
So the likelihood is that Davidson's experience of driving in F1 will be short, probably just this season in fact. That will not please at least one of my readers, I know, but it looks that way at the moment. F1 is a pitiless master and throws away many with talent in its endless search for the truly gifted one, the star of tomorrow.
Once again, it shows that an essential item of equipment in a GP driver's armory has to be good luck. You can get by for a while if you have a bundle of money to offer but that will run out in the end or someone with an even bigger bundle will come along. There is just no getting away from it - as well as outrageous talent, you have to have luck.
And there is one particular rookie of the moment who seems to have both in abundance...
Anthony Davidson
It was typical of the bad luck that seems to dog Anthony. After hovering for many years on the edge of F1 as a test driver, 2007 was going to be his big break and we would see what he is really capable of. Unfortunately, every time he manages to get ahead of his team mate, Takuma Sato, and begins to impress, fate knocks him down again. The groundhog incident in Canada, that destroyed what was going to be a points finish, could only have happened to Anthony.
It leaves us still unable to make a fair assessment of his potential. And it looks as though his chance to make an impact could be drawing to a close. In common with Spyker, the Super Aguri team has hit financial difficulties and, inevitably, rumors of the sale of the team begin. If that happens, who knows what would happen to Davidson? Sato's name has appeared in a number of silly season rumors of driver changes but poor Anthony never gets a mention. Not even Toyota are interested, it seems.
In my opinion, those occasional flashes of speed show that Anthony can produce the goods when the car allows it. In the second half of the season he has generally been quicker than Sato, sometimes by a considerable margin, and his inconsistent form has been largely the result of outside influences beyond his control. It is quite likely that, given a seat in a more competitive team, he could shine just as brightly as some of the more hyped young drivers arriving in F1.
Unfortunately, team managers seem to take little account of circumstances when assessing applicants for a driver's seat. What they want to see is results and, so far, it has to be admitted that Anthony has very few to put forward. Even if he had a large amount of money to offer as a sweetener, the only takers would be one of the financially-strapped teams at the tail end of the grid and Anthony already knows how difficult it is to make your mark driving an uncompetitive car.
So the likelihood is that Davidson's experience of driving in F1 will be short, probably just this season in fact. That will not please at least one of my readers, I know, but it looks that way at the moment. F1 is a pitiless master and throws away many with talent in its endless search for the truly gifted one, the star of tomorrow.
Once again, it shows that an essential item of equipment in a GP driver's armory has to be good luck. You can get by for a while if you have a bundle of money to offer but that will run out in the end or someone with an even bigger bundle will come along. There is just no getting away from it - as well as outrageous talent, you have to have luck.
And there is one particular rookie of the moment who seems to have both in abundance...