Davidson targets points finish with Aguri

Davidson's long wait for a Formula One race drive ended last week when he was confirmed as Takuma Sato's teammate at the Japanese squad for the 2007 season.

Davidson, 27, first tested for BAR Honda in 2001 and has been an official Honda reserve driver for the past three seasons. He has taken part in three Grands Prix, but he is yet to finish a race.

The British driver reckons by the end of next season he should be able to fight to score his first points.

"Obviously I know how the race weekend format runs from not only my role driving on a Friday but from the three races that I have competed in," said Davidson, whose Super Aguri team made their debut this season and finished without any points.

"Testing is one thing, but racing is another. You can do the lap times in testing, but it is very difficult to do it in the race.

"I haven't finished a race yet due to various circumstances, so my first objective is to finish my first race with the team in Melbourne and then go from there - build up the learning blocks. Even though I know the format I am still going to be learning.

"By the end of the year I hope to be pushing Taku really hard and hopefully we will be in a competitive environment with our car. The ultimate goal has to be scoring points in your first year and I believe that this is now a realistic goal."

Davidson had previously raced against Sato in the British Formula Three championship, and they worked together at the BAR team when the Japanese raced there.

The Briton admits it will be weird working with Sato again in a different team.

"It feels a bit strange," he added. "I obviously competed with him in Formula Three and then worked with him at the BAR team as it was then. So it will feel a bit strange, but also this time I will be competing directly against him in a way.

"It will be a fun year, we get on really well and we know each others strengths and weaknesses and hopefully, like in any good team, we will push everybody on to bigger and better things."