James James Davies

This page is about the Formula One driver James James Davies. For the unrelated driver who competed in ARWS, please visit James Davies.

James James Davies (born 14th September, 1975 in Monmouth, Wales), more commonly known as just JJD, is a British racing driver best known for his appearances in Formula One and his unique personality. One of the most polarising figures in Formula One and motorsports history, Davies is well known for his fiery temper and frequent outbursts. He is also well known for changing his name to incorporate a middle name ahead of the 2000 season. Famously, when asked by Murray Walker why he changed his middle name to James via deed poll, James responded "I figured that James sounded so good I might as well have people say it twice".

James James Davies is a four-time Formula One driver's world champion, having won the crown in 2004, 2006, 2013 and 2014. As of 2020, Davies is the only Welsh Formula One driver to win a Grand Prix, and the only Welsh World Champion. He is also the only driver to compete in Formula One Grands Prix in four different decades.

He is of no relation to the ARWS driver James Davies or his cousin Jordan but he is the son of former sports car driver John Davies.

Early Career

Born in Monmouth, Davies got his first taste of racing at the age of 6, at a friend's birthday party. Although he quickly displayed an incredible talent, winning the race with remarkable ease, his father was initially against James beginning a racing career due to suffering some serious crashes during his own career, most notably his career-ending crash. However, he eventually relented when James saved up his pocket money and went to a karting track without his parents permission when he was 12. Although he didn't have enough for the bus home and had to be picked up by his parents, he did set the lap record on the children's course - which incidentally still stands today. Although he was grounded for 6 months after that, James was bought a kart for his 13th birthday. Within 2 years he had promptly demolished anything even remotely resembling competition in the domestic kart scene, and was strongly being considered being moved straight to Formula 3.

Davies first came to international prominence when he illegally took part in the 1989 Birmingham SuperPrix at the age of fourteen under the pseudonym of "David James". Davies was given a two year ban by the Motor Sports Association, after it was discovered he was racing under a forged licence. Despite the punishment from the MSA, Formula 3000 organisers declined to put similar sanctions on Davies, stating that the punishment from the MSA was enough, and he had shown himself capable of handling a high-horsepower, high-grip racing car despite his tender age.

His ban did not stop him in 1990 as he'd use two more forged licenses from the Irish and American motorsport associations respectively to compete in a number of races in F3000. Davies entered the first two races of the season in the United Kingdom under the pseudonym of Irishman "Jimmy O'Davidson" and later on in the year returned under the alias of American driver "Jimbo Davis" and French driver "Jacques David" (as whom he took 7th place at Magny-Cours).

LifeGP Career

However, this was still not enough to remove all his father's doubts, and so James made a bet with him: he would enter for one race in the newly formed Life Grand Prix Series, and should he not be one of the leading drivers, he would end his career immediately. As LifeGP lacked age restrictions, this made Davies at 16 the youngest driver in the series by far.

Any doubts over Davies' career were quickly erased in the first race, as he dominated the race, only to lose out with a late-race car failure. His father relented, and James prepared to run the full schedule, completing his school work in between each race. However, the story of his first international race would be largely the story of Davies' season, as he would only finish twice all season before the team's money and his patience ran out after the 13th race. He then switched over to British F3, where the higher build quality ensured he was able to make good on his speed and win most of the time.

He then continued in British F3 for 1992, and was leading easily when he got a call from Good Call Racing, inviting him to return to Life GP in place of the very disappointing Evelyn Gomes with a substantial paycheck. Not keen to let unfinished business stay that way, Davies accepted the offer, and promptly sat on the pole for the first 4 races of his comeback, finally winning his second race in the series when the car actually held together for the duration at Mid-Ohio, with practically no opposition. He continued his form at the next two races, winning at Phoenix and Mine with ease, to make him a serious title contender by the time the season finale came along.

As in the 3 previous races, Davies qualified on pole, and proceeded to dominate in the rain, even as conditions grew more and more treacherous. This continued until Davies, unsighted, crashed into the back of his teammate, Jeremy-Etienne Voeckler. Voeckler had yet to pit for tyres, and so was leading at the time - as the red flag was thrown, it seemed that Davies' title challenge had crumbled into dust, as with only half-points being given out, he did not have enough to overhaul Dave Wilson. That was until the results were pushed back one lap in a controversial decision, allowing Davies the extra 2 points he needed to take the title by half a point.

Davies' title defence began in the worst possible way, as he was once again leading dominantly in the season opening Argentine round, only to crash and miss the next 4 races due to injury. While James recovered, his father pleaded with him to stop racing before he permanently injured himself. Naturally, James took no notice and completed the season. It bore more resemblance to his 1991 campaign, with far more mechanical problems and crashes, as Davies spent most of the season behind Vic Sunset, however, a strong 2nd place at the penultimate round of the season secured Davies' place as the only 2-time champion in LGPS history.

Formula One

1998-1999: McLaren

Ahead of the 1998 season, the 23 year-old Davies was named as the second driver at the West McLaren Mercedes team alongside Finnish veteran Mika Häkkinen. It would only take four races for the young Brit to take his first win at McLaren, winning from the front row after his teammate retired in the early stages of the race. This breakthrough galvanised Davies and his manager Don Rennis, who would both make serious claims that Davies would win the 1998 title.

Davies stirred up more controversy after the French Grand Prix, where after finishing second in a solid McLaren one-two performance, Davies would allude to a discrepancy in power between his car and the one driven by Häkkinen. This caused a major argument with him and team principal Ron Dennis which nearly saw the Brit lose his place in the team before his position was secured by minority owner Mansour Ojjeh. McLaren were forced to issue a statement in the aftermath of this incident, which read: "McLaren is fully committed to providing both of our drivers equal equipment and equal treatment for the entirety of their tenures within the team."

Davies would win a further two races after San Marino; taking the flag in Canada and in his home race at the British Grand Prix. Davies would continue to alienate his team and others along the paddock with his frequent outbursts and eventually finished the season in a very distant third position behind Häkkinen and Ferrari's David Coulthard. Davies finished the season equal on points with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher but would secure third by virtue of more second place finishes.

Despite his highly charged 1998 season, Davies remained with McLaren in 1999. However, McLaren would not enjoy the same dominance that they experienced the year before; with a majorly improved Ferrari being joined by an unexpectedly competitive Jordan. After scoring just two wins (and finishing the season on a five race pointless streak), Davies would leave McLaren at the end of the 1999 season after his contract was not renewed - a choice that was believed to be at the request of Ron Dennis.

2000-2001: Jordan

After falling out with McLaren management, Davies and fellow Briton Jack Christopherson would swap seats ahead of the 2000 season - with Davies headed to the "rock and roll" team of Benson & Hedges Jordan. Despite a relatively slow start to the season, Davies would begin to bed in to the more relaxed nature of the Jordan team and was a regular winner in the latter stages of the year. Davies would win four races in the millennium year on his way to fourth place in the championship.

The following season, Davies would remain for a second year at Jordan - being joined by Jarno Trulli. Unlike the previous two years, Jordan was now returning to its more familiar spot in the mid-field - which began to frustrate the Brit. Davies would suffer a number of setbacks during this season, firstly suffering a minor injury ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix - meaning Jordan would give a debut to tester Kimi Räikkönen. Davies would return at the next race before suffering yet another injury at the beginning of the Belgian Grand Prix following a collision with Jaguar's Eddie Irvine. This injury saw Davies bow out of the remainder of the year, meaning Räikkönen would see out the season.

2002-2003: McLaren return

With Jordan opting for Räikkönen as the new team leader, Davies would make a shock return to McLaren ahead of the 2002 season - replacing Hakkinen whom decided to take a short sabbatical from F1. A slightly more mellowed Davies would repay McLaren's confidence in him, taking a memorable win despite a punctured tyre and a recalcitrant car at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Davies remained with the Woking outfit in 2003 and took an early advantage with a pole and win at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Davies took four race wins, leading all drivers, in 2003 in a season where he was a contender for the title up until the final race. Although he led the points for the majority of the season, reliability and poor performance from his McLaren team left Davies an outsider for the title by the final race, compared to Rhys Davies and Michael Schumacher. Nonetheless, JJD worked himself into a good position during the final race at Suzuka before he was forced off the track by his rival Rhys Davies. Rhys Davies would go on to win the title by two points from Schumacher, but the JJD incident left a cloud over proceedings. In a post-race media meltdown, JJD swore that he would never let Davies beat him again.

2004-2006: Ferrari

Davies' desire to finally win the World Championship led him to leave McLaren for a second time, but characteristically, the Welshman went on to shock the paddock once again by joining Scuderia Ferrari for the 2004. Although it was expected that Davies would have to play second fiddle to established number one Schumacher, much of the British press speculated that the pairing would cause fireworks in an already volatile Formula One climate. Davies, for his part, did nothing to assuage the speculation, declaring himself, "Schumacher's only real teammate", and announcing himself as the title favourite pre-season. He would further embroil himself in controversy at the pre-season launch, after he and Ferrari junior driver Daniel Melrose were involved in a fracas which saw drinks being thrown and at least one of the men being removed from the venue.

With the season shortened due to the boycott of races within the European Union, the title battle was reduced to an intra-Ferrari battle. The two were well matched all season - with Davies and Schumacher taking four wins each - however Davies was slightly more consistent and beat his German teammate by six points for his first ever title win. Schumacher described the 2004 season and battle with Davies as "exhausting" and decided to take a sabbatical from the sport at the end of the season.

Schumacher's departure and Davies' win saw the Briton become team leader at Ferrari in 2005, this time being joined by Daniel Melrose - fresh off of a strong season with minnows Sauber. Davies continued his rivalry with his Australian partner - spending much of the year berating and degrading Melrose which in turn cost Ferrari both titles once Melrose began responding in turn - the pair frequently clashing on track. Davies finished 2005 in third place, only a point behind eventual champion Fernando Alonso and behind Kimi Räikkönen on countback. Davies ended the season in dramatic fashion by telling the press that Ferrari would either have to choose him or Melrose - stating that he'd "never drive alongside that moron again."

Davies got his wish in 2006, with Melrose moving to the newly-formed BMW Sauber team and the relatively harmless Luca Badoer taking the second seat at Ferrari in his place. Davies spent much of the early stages of the season duelling with Renault's Räikkönen for top honours - with the Finn looking like he was in the box seat for the championship. Unfortunately for the Finn, he'd suffer a heavy accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix in which he broke both of his legs - ruling him out of title contention. This left Davies relatively unchallenged for the rest of the season and as such comfortably cruised to his second championship with ease.

2007: McLaren third stint and first retirement

Davies returned to Woking for a third stint in 2007, with telecoms giant Vodafone bankrolling the all-British lineup of Davies and Sammy Jones. Davies held a commanding lead for the majority of the season, however the Spygate scandal which implicated McLaren in a espionage case saw much of his strong performance be put under intense scrutiny. Davies was cleared of any wrongdoing at the September FIA court hearing but the resultant damage to his image saw him opt to retire from the sport after the Italian Grand Prix. The title was then to be decided between Melrose, Badoer and Ferrari's new recruit Robert Kubica - with Davies' fierce Australian rival taking his first of four crowns in his absence.

2010-2011: Mercedes

Having seemingly escaped from the furore over the Spygate scandal, Davies began making overtures to return to the Formula One grid in 2010. Eventually, a opening emerged at Mercedes when Kimi Räikkönen was sacked for poor performance near the end of the season. Initially Helio Castroneves took the seat but a deal was reached for Davies (partly aided by the United Arab Emirates government) to line-up on the grid in Abu Dhabi alongside Daniel Melrose of all people. Davies managed a third on his first race back but he finished well back in 18th place in the second after a clash with Melrose midway through the race.

Melrose opted to focus on the F1RWRS on a more permanent basis in 2011 so Mercedes saw fit to sign Davies full time. Davies was joined by former-Campos Meta 1 driver and International Grid Association graduate Nathan McKane, a driver who was seen as a future star by many people along the paddock. McKane shockingly had the better of his more experienced teammate - managing four wins to Davies' solitary win by the halfway point. Davies struggled with the car for much of the year and grew increasingly frustrated that he was being beaten comprehensively by his younger teammate. Davies had a three race exclusion for bad driving in Italy and this was seemingly the last straw after a bust-up with Mercedes management saw him depart the team after the Uruguayan Grand Prix - ironically being replaced by Melrose for most of the rest of the season.

2012: Lola

Despite holding some resentment towards McKane, Davies hypothesised that the year in a low pressure environment had been beneficial to his former teammate and as such Davies took a chance with the relatively small Lola Cars F1 outfit. Although the Lola wasn't a world beater - Davies was a near-constant presence in the points, managing four podiums as well as a win in the final race of the season in Singapore. Davies finished the season in eighth place overall.

2013: Ferrari return

A revitalised Davies returned to the Scuderia for the first time in seven years in 2013 - joining up alongside Mark Webber. Davies dominated the season with twelve wins - his strongest challenge coming from Stefan driver Vitaly Petrov - on his way to his third championship.

2014-2015: Brabham

Davies switched to the DHL Brabham Racing Organisation in the off season alongside his 2013 rival Vitaly Petrov. The move was a great success as he'd successfully defend his title with six wins over the course of 2014.

In 2015, Davies was joined by Dutchman Robin Frijns. Barring a single second place finish in the opening race, it was a relatively barren season for the defending champion and he'd finish in a lowly twelfth place overall. This saw Davies call time on his F1 career once again.

2019: Calinetic

Davies made an unexpected return to the grid at the Chinese Grand Prix, replacing the excluded Daniel Ricciardo. He did not score points in either of the heats.

2020: Toyota

A returning Toyota saw fit to bring in the experienced head of James James Davies for their return in 2020, the Welshman teaming with Kazuki Nakajima. The Toyota was far better suited to Nakajima, who scored regular podiums whilst Davies only managed a handful of points finishes on his way to twentieth overall.

Davies once again walked away from the world of Formula One at the end of the 2020 season.

Other motorsport endeavours

Between 2018 and 2019, Davies raced in the GT Super Series for the BMS Scuderia Italia team initially alongside Evgeny Restov and later with Andrea Constantini.

In 2021, Davies moved into the NASCAR Cup Series driving the #44 Toyota for the NY Racing Team.

Personal life

Davies' outlandish persona has made him an incredibly popular personality - with many racing drivers citing him as one of their inspirations in getting into Motorsport - most notably Kay Lon.

Davies courted controversy in early 2005 when he sensationally snubbed a MBE in the New Year's Honours - reportedly drunkedly telephoning Buckingham Palace and telling the operator to "come back when you've got me a f**king Knighthood". Despite winning several World Championships in the following years, Davies has not been included in any honour list since.

In 2017, James James Davies was featured as a guest for the 'Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car' segment on long-running British motoring show, Top Gear. He set the fastest lap of the F1 and F1RWRS drivers to have been guests on the show.

In 2020, a young driver - Lauren Kendrick - was alleged by the media and several other sources (including a Best In The World press release) to be the illegitimate daughter of Davies. Davies vehemently denied this story and served Best In The World with a cease and desist notice - citing a DNA test as proof of no relation. Kendrick was named as WilliamsF1 Team's reserve driver ahead of the 2021 season.

Full Career Results

Life GP Results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Pts
1991	Team James Davies	ESP Ret	AND Ret	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	AUT 2	CZE 1	GER Ret	SWE Ret	BEL Ret	SUI Ret	LUX Ret	EUR Ret	GBR Ret	ENG	POR	USE	USW	JPN			7th	25
1992	Foster's Good Call Racing	ARG	BRA	ESP	FRA	ITA	AUT	CZE	FIN	GER	SUI	BEL	NED	ENG Ret	GBR Ret	CAN Ret	USE 1	USW 1	JPN 1	AUS 1*		1st	46.5
1993	Foster's Good Call Racing	ARG Ret	BRA INJ	VEN INJ	USA INJ	CAN INJ	IRE 6†	GBR Ret	NED Ret	GER Ret	POL 1	AUT 4	ITA Ret	FRA Ret	NAM Ret	JAP 1	MAL Ret	IND Ret	NZL Ret	AUS 2	MAC Ret	1st	52

Formula 1 Results

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	WDC	Pts
1998	West McLaren Mercedes	McLaren MP4/13	Mercedes FO110G	AUS 2	BRA 3	ARG Ret	SMR 1	ESP Ret	MON Ret	CAN 1	FRA 2	GBR 1	AUT 4	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 2	JPN 3	POR Ret																							3rd	59
1999	West McLaren Mercedes	McLaren MP4/14	Mercedes FO110H	AUS 3	BRA 4	SMR Ret	ESP 1	MON DNS	CAN 3	FRA Ret	GBR 2	AUT 2	GER 1	HUN 4	BEL Ret	ITA 11	JPN Ret	MAL 15†	POR Ret																							6th	46
2000	Benson & Hedges Jordan	Jordan EJ10 EJ10B	Mugen-Honda MF-301 HD	AUS 7	BRA Ret	SMR 4	FRA Ret	ESP 3	EUR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 2	GBR 4	AUT 1	GER Ret	HUN 1	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	JPN 1	MAL 1	USA 5	POR 2																					4th	64
2001	Benson & Hedges Jordan Honda	Jordan EJ11	Honda RA001E	AUS Ret	MAL 8	BRA 8	SMR 2	ESP Ret	AUT 4	MON Ret	CAN INJ	EUR Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 2	GER 5†	HUN Ret	BEL DNS	ITA INJ	USA INJ	JPN INJ																						9th	17
2002	West McLaren Mercedes	McLaren MP4-17	Mercedes FO110M	AUS 4	MAL Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 4	AUT Ret	MON Ret	CAN 14	EUR 3	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 3	HUN 1	BEL 2	ITA 2	BRA Ret	USA Ret	JPN 4																						5th	39
2003	West McLaren Mercedes	McLaren MP4-17D	Mercedes FO110M Mercedes FO110P	AUS 1	MAL 5	SMR 4	ESP 5	AUT 1	MON Ret	CAN 3	GBR 1	EUR 1	GER 3	HUN 14†	ITA DNA	BEL 4	BRA 5	USA Ret	JPN Ret																							3rd	74
2004	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F2004	Ferrari 053 3.0 V10	AUS 1	MAL 2	BHR 2	MON 3	CAN 1	USA Ret	CHN 1	BRA 1	ARG 4	KOR C	JPN 6																												1st	70
2010	Petronas Mercedes Team Europe	MGP 001	Mercedes FO 108X	BAH I	BAH II	USA I	USA II	JPN II	JPN II	AUS I	AUS II	TUR I	TUR II	EUR I	EUR II	MON I	MON II	GBR I	GBR II	IRE I	IRE II	GER I	GER II	ESP I	ESP II	ITA I	ITA II	HUN I	HUN II	SIN I	SIN II	KOR I	KOR II	BRA I	BRA II	URU I	URU II	ABU I 3	ABU II 18			23rd	15
2011	Petronas Mercedes Team Europe	MGP W02	Mercedes FO 108Y	BAH I 3	BAH II 11	USA I Ret	USA II 5	JPN I Ret	JPN II INJ	KOR I 14	KOR II 6	TUR I Ret	TUR II 1	ESP I 11	ESP II Ret	MON I 5	MON II 7	GBR I 4	GBR II 7	IRE I 4	IRE II 2	EUR I 5	EUR II 6	GER I 12	GER II Ret	HUN I 6	HUN II 8	ITA I 15	ITA II 15	URU I EX	URU II EX	BRA I EX	BRA II 8	SIN1	SIN2	IND1	IND2	ABU1	ABU2			13th	146
2012	Lola Cars F1	T12/30	Renault RS27-2012	BAH I 2	BAH II 13	MAL I Ret	MAL II Ret	JPN I 4	JPN II 14	KOR I 20	KOR II 7	TUR I 5	TUR II Ret	EUR I EX	EUR II EX	MON I 7	MON II 8	GBR I 8	GBR II Ret	CAN I 8	CAN II 7	USA I 11	USA II 2	GER I Ret	GER II 5	ESP I 8	ESP II 16	ITA I 5	ITA II 19	ABU I 18	ABU II 5	IND I 6	IND II 6	URU I 9	URU II 4	BRA I Ret	BRA II 3	SIN I 4	SIN II 1			10th	198
2013	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	F1310	Ferrari Type 057	BAH I 1	BAH II 3	MAL I 2	MAL II 1	JPN I 1	JPN II 16	TUR I Ret	TUR II 1	AUT I 16	AUT II 5	IRE I 1	IRE II 1	MON I 1	MON II Ret	ESP I 4	ESP II 1	USA I 1	USA II 7	CAN I Ret	CAN II 1	GBR I 1	GBR II 9	ITA I 4	ITA II Ret	POR I Ret	POR II 6	GER I 9	GER II 3	KOR I 9	KOR II 9	IND I 11	IND II 8	ABU I 15	ABU II 1	SIN I 7	SIN II Ret			1st	417 (422)
2014	DHL Brabham Racing Organisation	BT104	Mercedes PU106A	BAH I 4	BAH II 2	MAL I 4	MAL II 1	BRA I Ret	BRA II Ret	MEX I 1	MEX II Ret	USA I 2	USA II 2	CAN I Ret	CAN II 11	GBR I 2	GBR II 16	ESP I 3	ESP II 7	AUT I 1	AUT II Ret	TUR I 4	TUR II 1	GER I 2	GER II 3	POR I 16†	POR II Ret	ITA I 14	ITA II Ret	ABU I 3	ABU II 1	IND I Ret	IND II 7	CHI I 3	CHI II 1	KOR I 7	KOR II 6	JPN I 2	JPN II Ret	SIN I 5	SIN II Ret	1st	414
2015	DHL Brabham Racing Organisation	Brabham BT105	Mercedes PU104A	BAH I 2	BAH II 7	MAL I Ret	MAL II C	BRA I Ret	BRA II 14	MEX I 12	MEX II 8	USA I Ret	USA II 8	CAN I Ret	CAN II 13	GBR I Ret	GBR II Ret	GER I 11	GER II Ret	ESP I Ret	ESP II 5	RUS I Ret	RUS II Ret	AUT I 17	AUT II Ret	ITA I 5	ITA II 4	CPR I Ret	CPR II 10	ABU I Ret	ABU II 10	IND I 8	IND II 17	JPN I 6	JPN II 10	KOR I 5	KOR II 12	SIN I 8	SIN II Ret	CHN I Ret	CHN II 11	12th	91

F1RICS Results

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	DC	Points
2016	bild-english.de Hasselhoff Motorsport	Panoz DP10	Honda V6T	SAO	SLU	MIA 23	GAT	LBH 3	AUS	POR	INDY 6	MIL	DON	EUR 5	WGI 6	NHA 13	MIC 5	TOR 3	ROA 23	KEN 22	POC 30							11th	64
	Avis Michael Bright Racing	Reynard 16i	Chevrolet V6T																			MON	LAG	SUR	SUZ	TEX	FON

Sporting Accolades
Preceded by: Rhys Davies	Formula One World Champion 2004	Succeeded by: Fernando Alonso
Preceded by: Fernando Alonso	Formula One World Champion 2006	Succeeded by: Daniel Melrose
Preceded by: Lewis Hamilton	Formula One World Champion 2013	Succeeded by: Himself
Preceded by: Himself	Formula One World Champion 2014	Succeeded by: Daniel Ricciardo