Difference between revisions of "Rhys Davies"

Revision as of 19:34, 30 December 2012

Template:Infobox Racing Driver

Rhys Davies (born 11th August 1978 in Goulburn, NSW) is an Australian racing driver who is a Formula One World Champion (at the time he was the youngest at 22 years and 58 days until Daniel Melrose won in 2005), V8 Supercar champion and current F1RWRS driver.

Early Racing Career

Helmet design

Born in Goulburn, Davies first got involved in motorsports at the fairly late age of 16, when he turned up for a track day at Wakefield Park. ATCC driver John Zimmer spotted Davies there and signed him to drive for his Australian Formula Ford team, ZimSport. Davies was immediately successful, finishing second in the 1994 season. ZimSport moved up to Australian Formula 3, and took Davies with them, where he won the 1995 and 1996 championships. In 1997, he was hired to take part in the International Formula 3000 championship with Draco Engineering, and finished a respectable 10th place. He managed to gain the attention of the Benetton F1 team, and became their test driver for 1998.

Formula One

1999

In 1999, he replaced Alexander Wurz as full time driver. He made his debut at the 1999 Australian Grand Prix, his home race, and finished 12th, while teammate Giancarlo Fisichella finished in 4th place. In the wet at Interlagos Davies would finish 7th, but problems at Imola saw him take 16th. At Monaco, Davies started from last on the grid, but took advantage of a first corner incident between Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard that involved most of the field to be third on the run up the hill. He passed Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher for the lead and held it to take his victory. However, after the race he and the team fell out after claims that Fisichella was always getting first choice on strategy, and when Davies was offered a spot at Williams to replace Ralf, he took the chance, and finished 7th at his first for the team at Silverstone. After Silverstone he scored points on three occasions and took two pole positions before he absolutely dominated the last 3 races on the season which gave the Australian third place in the championship and clear rookie of the year honours.

2000

BMW joined the Williams team for the 2000 and Davies entered the season as one of the championship favourites after his late season upturn last season. However the opening round in Australia proved to be a disappointment as he finished 7th and outside of the points. A second place finish and a win in the next two races in Brazil and San Marino put his championship tilt back on track. After a second poor race at the British Grand Prix where the team erred massively with the Australian's strategy he finished on the podium in the next 5 races including two more wins in Europe and Monaco, his second win at the principality in two years, which took him all the way to the top of the championship standings. A lean streak from Austria to Belgium where he only scored 4 points in 4 races threatened to deny Davies the championship and hand it over to teammate Ralf Schumacher but he responded magnificently by utterly dominating the last 4 races of the season which secured him his first world championship. At the time he was the youngest ever winner of Motorsport's greatest prize. He also set 12 fastest laps, the second most in a season, behind Chris Dagnall's 1991 effort.

2001

Becoming increasingly frustrated with the treatment he got from the Williams team Davies left for the McLaren team in 2001 replacing Scotsman David Coulthard. His championship defence got off to an average start with only 8 points from the opening 4 races despite a podium in Malaysia aswell as becoming the first Australian ever to score points at his home Grand Prix. A solid 2nd place at the Spanish Grand Prix followed by never say die drive at Austria to third place kick started his season campaign and by mid season he was leading solidly ahead of teammate Mika Hakkinen. Several poor performances from the defending champion however after France meant that by Hungary he had Hakkinen, Ralf Schumacher and the two Ferraris of Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher breathing down his neck to try and wrestle the crown from the Australian but a win a Belgium, the 14th of his career, plus a second place finish at Indianapolis meant that he was back in the box seat for his second world championship. A podium finish at the season ending Japanese Grand Prix won Davies his second title but by no means was it a flawless season for the Australian.

2002

Many were now starting to compare Davies to Juan Manuel Fangio, if only for his tendency to switch teams time and time again but he had the results to back it up. As so it proved as Davies was signed on alongside Michael Schumacher at Ferrari for the 2002 season. The team was tipped to be strong contenders for the title, however relations between Schumacher and Davies were not good, because they argued over who deserved number 1 status within the team. Davies started the year by becoming the first Australian to score a podium at the Australian GP, starting from pole, and finishing 5th at Sepang. After Monaco, Davies had recorded two wins (one at Imola, delighting the Italian fans, and his fourth straight at Monaco) and 29 points, while Schumacher had 14 points and no wins. By this point, the situation at Ferrari had deteriorated rapidly, and Davies made a shock decision to leave the team and drive for Renault, alongside Jarno Trulli. The team, who Davies had debuted for as Benetton, had only scored 7 points, 4 of those from Trulli's podium at the A1-Ring. Davies' arrival boosted the spirits of the team, and Trulli repeated the feat in Canada, although Davies recorded his second career DNF (his first was at Austria two races before, although he was classified 15th). After that though, he would score in every race except for the US Grand Prix, where he finished 10th. This included podiums at the European, British, German, Hungarian and Japanese Grands Prix, and a win at the Italian Grand Prix, which caused riots amongst the tifosi. Trulli wouldn't score as many points, but he finished third at Italy, and won the following race in the USA. Davies' consistency over the final half of the season saw him sneak up the standings, with his win at Monza putting him into the lead. He held it after Indy, and 3rd at Suzuka gave him his third consecutive title, edging out Ralf Schumacher (once again) and McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen.

V8 Supercars

Apart from open-wheelers, Davies' other motorsport passion was V8 Supercars. He first started following it during the 1994 ATCC season, and watching Mark Skaife and his Gibson Motor Sport team take down the competition made him a massive Holden supporter. From then on he was often seen at races whenever he could get there, especially at Bathurst. In 2000, he acheived his first V8 drive for McDougall Motorsport. The small privateer team, run by Dugal McDougall, and sponsored by Pepsi, was in need of a new endurance driver, after the first choice, Andrew Miedecke, smashed it at the Queensland 500. Davies put his hand up, and since there was no F1 race on the weekend of Bathurst, he quickly flew back to Australia. McDougall and Davies finished a solid 8th, and on the lead lap, not bad for Davies' first time behind the wheel of a V8. In 2001, he stayed committed to F1, but discovered that the Queensland 500 and Bathurst 1000 were on free weekends. He managed to get hired by Perkins Engineering, and competed in the #8 Commodore alongside Luke Youlden. The races did not go well, with engine dramas in both races putting them well out of the running. 2002 was the first time since 1994 that Davies was not at Bathurst, as he had to race at the Japanese GP. He couldn't even make the Queensland race because he was in Italy.

However, after a successful 4 years in F1, he retired, and moved permanently back to Australia. He was immediately signed by Larry Perkins, who was impressed by Davies' performances both in F1 and at Bathurst. He was given the honour of driving Larry's famous #11, and drove alongside him at Sandown and Bathurst. He finished a credible 11th in the championship, picking up numerous podiums throughout the year. He stayed during 2004, and would win his first race, race 2 at Oran Park, and would take the round win at Symmons Plains. However, a few retirements at the start of the year meant he only managed 7th at the end of the year. 2005 would be even better, winning the Clipsal 500 straight off the bat. That year was also the year of his first Bathurst victory, driving alongside Paul Dumbrell. He wasn't in championship contention at the finale at Phillip Island, but would cleansweep the weekend to take fourth place.

His performances were enough to see him replace Todd Kelly at the Holden Racing Team, and while he only finished 5th in 2006, he took wins at both enduros with Mark Skaife. 2007, however, would be his breakthrough year. He won all of the marquee events, including his third straight Bathurst crown, and round wins at Eastern Creek, Hidden Valley and Symmons Plains. However, he very nearly lost the title at Queensland Raceway, where he ran wide at turn 3 during race 1. His car dug into the sand and flipped multiple times, coming to rest well away from the track itself. Davies was taken to hospital, where a leg fracture meant he missed the rest of the weekend and also the next race at Oran Park. The fact that he even raced at Sandown that year was considered a miracle, and going on to win it and Bathurst cemented his position as a popular driver. With a third place in race 3 at Phillip Island, he became the first driver to win both an F1 and V8 Supercar championship, and returned HRT to its glory days of the early 2000s. In the next few years, he became quite outspoken against racing at Queensland Raceway, claiming the track was unsafe and unfit for V8 Supercars. In fact, he was so against the track, he didn't even race there in 2008 and 2009, refusing to risk another injury. In the 2009 race, he was proved right when Jason Bright and Greg Murphy both seriously injured themselves in seperate incidents at seperate parts of the track. QR was dropped from the 2010 schedule. But this mattered little to Davies, who had retired from full time driving at the end of 2009, after finishing 3rd in the last two years. He partnered Fabian Coulthard in 2010 in the enduros, taking the #24 Walkinshaw Commodore to 7th at Phillip Island, and his fourth Bathurst win.

The helmet Davies wore during his V8 Supercar career.

Formula One Comeback

There was a reason he didn't race in 2010. Davies shocked the motorsport world when he announced at the end of 2009 that he was returning to Formula One for the now struggling Williams team, the very same group of people he won the championship for in 2000. Sir Frank Williams was desperate to reverse the fortunes of his team which had only scored a grand total of eight points since 2007. With Nico Rosberg heading off the new Mercedes team and despite preliminary negotiations to snare the free agent Daniel Melrose from BMW, Williams decided that the best option was to sign on Davies, who had kept his eye in since leaving F1 with two Le Mans victories and his multiple Bathurst titles.

2010

Davies' comeback started off poorly with a relatively quiet drive to thirteenth place in Bahrain after an early collision with Jenson Button. He then scored his first points in 8 years at Australia before playing one half of the battle everyone wanted to see in Malaysia. That battle being between himself and defending champion and fellow F1 Legend Daniel Melrose for 6th and 7th place when the Mercedes driver was struggling with worn tyres. Melrose eventually held on but the world got a taste of what they wanted to see. At the next race in China, a good tactical move late in the race meant that Davies scored his best result since his comeback with 5th place.

A couple of more solid points finishes in Monaco and Turkey followed but then Davies suffered a number of retirements in a row, including a second collision with Button at the British Grand Prix after qualifying on the second row. From Hungary onwards however, Davies put in some of the best drives of his season including his first podium finish since his comeback with third in Hungary and a solid drive to fourth in Italy after a shocker of a start. At the next race in Singapore, Davies took his first win since 2002 after many of the front runners hit trouble on the wet Marina Bay Circuit.

2011

Davies started 2011 in much the same way as 2010 with a solid points finish at home in Australia. He soon followed this up with podiums in Malaysia and Spain amongst other consistent points finishes. However, this streak of points finishes ended abruptly at Monaco when he put in one of the worst qualifying performances of his career to be 20th before his penalty for blocking Sebastian Vettel took effect. Davies' race wasn't any better with a first lap retirement ending his miserable weekend. The former champ bounced back however with two wins on the trot in Canada after a last-lap battle with Lewis Hamilton and a fairly comfortable victory in Valencia.

F1RWRS Career

For 2012, Davies followed the footsteps of many of his fellow F1 drivers including Sammy Jones, Phoenix McAllister and Melrose into the F1RWRS where he was signed for the Holden Racing Team alongside another former F1 star in Frank Zimmer

Complete Formula One Grand Prix results

F1RWRS Results

IRDU Rejects Cup Results

Career Summary