Davidson ready to return to cockpit

Anthony Davidson is on course to return to the Formula One cockpit tomorrow for the first time since he was stretchered away from the Australian Grand Prix with severe back pains

The Super Aguri driver hurt his back in a collision with Adrian Sutil in the early stages of the Melbourne race, but bravely battled on to the chequered flag.

Despite making the finish, however, he complained of severe back pains and was taken to hospital for precautionary checks afterwards. Examination found no serious injury and the problem was diagnosed as being muscular.

After recuperating in Australia, Davidson is now back to full fitness and eager to get back in action during Super Aguri's second day of testing at Sepang this week.

"I feel fine and a good rest was what I needed," he told autosport.com. "I think the muscle went into some kind of spasm, but I feel okay now and tomorrow afternoon I will be taking over from Taku. There should be some new aero parts flown in, so I can't wait."

Davidson is due to take over from teammate Takuma Sato after lunchtime tomorrow, although Sato is set to remain at the track just in case Davidson suffers any further problems with his back.

Sato has said he was encouraged by Super Aguri's first proper day of testing with their definitive 2007 car, which was only launched on the Wednesday before the Australian Grand Prix.

"We tried lots of things mechanically and aerodynamically," Sato told autosport.com. "We did not have the SA07 in the (final) Bahrain test, so we tried several settings on the car to see which direction we can work on.

"There are some very tiny aero updates on the car, which are almost invisible, but it was a very positive day."