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Davidson hopes strong form is noticed

Anthony Davidson feels he is now at the top of his game and hopes his strong performances recently will bring competitive opportunities for him in the future in Formula One

The 27-year-old Briton, who made his full-season Formula One debut this year with Super Aguri after five years as Honda's test driver, has been impressive particularly in qualifying, putting in a stand-out performance at Istanbul two weeks ago.

But Davidson admitted he was wary of being recognised only as a qualifying expert.

"People say, 'you're turning into a qualifying expert' - but my races have been good as well," the Briton told autosport.com.

"Indianapolis was a good race; Bahrain was a good race; Canada would have been a very good race if it wasn't for hitting the animal and all that; and Hungary was a great race as well.

"But no one sees that. The cameras don't follow the car, so the general public aren't aware. And so more focus is placed on qualifying, and it's more important what you do in qualifying when you're in that sort of car - it seems - than in the race."

He did take great pride, however, from his Turkish Grand Prix qualifying performance, where he nearly made it into Q3 with a remarkable lap.

"Turkey was amazing," Davidson said. "I think it was the best lap of qualifying that day. And I think if I was in the best car, I would have been on pole position in that lap, no doubt about it.

"Everyone has their moment. That was my best lap I've driven all year.

"It just proves that it is a skill, it's an art to get it together in qualifying, and I'm getting on top of that. But also in the races I'm getting stronger all the time."

Davidson continued to impress in Monza last weekend, putting a strong performance in qualifying and finishing the Italian Grand Prix in 14th.

And he says his first season is going according to plan.

"I'm doing exactly what I said I'd be doing this year - just get better every time I go out there," Davidson told autosport.com. "I've learnt a lot, and now I feel I'm on top of the game.

"You start looking into the future around about this time of the year, but to be honest taking care of the present is going to see what happens in the future for me.

"I am on the up, so I just have to keep that going, which means I have to be 100% focused on the now.

"And if then you get nothing out of it, then you hold your hands up and say 'there was nothing I did wrong'. So that's all I'm trying to do."

Davidson remains contracted to Honda Racing, with Honda F1 team chief Nick Fry expressing his hopes that Davidson will stay at Super Aguri next season.

"Anthony remains contracted to Honda," Fry told autosport.com. "We have supported him as best we can for many years now, so it's very good for us to see his performance this year and to see how he's grown.

"And I think the proof of the pudding is that he's driven very well in the last few races. He is, in many cases, ahead of his teammate - which is good for him, too.

"What happens next year is still open. Obviously we hope he will continue at Super Aguri, and if the rules are written in the way we expect, with customer cars are added to the rules, then hopefully our car will be better and Super Aguri will be able to take advantage of that - and Anthony will be the recipient."

Fry said Davidson remains a candidate to join Honda in 2009, provided he continues performing as well as he is now.

"What happens in 2009 depends on performance," Fry stated. "The thing that everyone has to remember is that this is Formula One. I feel that we have done the best we possibly can for Anthony. The rest is down to him.

"So if he wants to be considered - as I'm sure he does - as a racing driver for this team, then he'll have to demonstrate a high level of performance. It's as simple as that.

"I think he is demonstrating it now. I think he's doing a very, very good job and he needs to continue doing that.

"I've got high confidence in Anthony's abilities. He's a very good driver. But it's a meritocracy; now it's down to him."

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