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.

This page is currently under construction.

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 two-time Formula One driver's world champion, having won the crown in 2004 and 2014. As of 2020, Davies is the only Welsh Formula One World Champion.

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.

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 15 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-: 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.

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.

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		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		USA 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	USA1	USA2	JPN1	JPN2	AUS1	AUS2	TUR1	TUR2	EUR1	EUR2	MON1	MON2	GBR1	GBR2	IRE1	IRE2	GER1	GER2	ESP1	ESP2	ITA1	ITA2	HUN1	HUN2	SIN1	SIN2	KOR1	KOR2	BRA1	BRA2	URU1	URU2	ABU1 3	ABU2 18			23rd	15
2011	Petronas Mercedes Team Europe	MGP W02	Mercedes FO 108Y	BAH I 3	BAH II 11	USA1 Ret	USA2 5	JPN1 Ret	JPN2 INJ	KOR1 14	KOR2 6	TUR1 Ret	TUR2 1	ESP1 11	ESP2 Ret	MON1 5	MON2 7	GBR1 4	GBR2 7	IRE1 4	IRE2 2	EUR1 5	EUR2 6	GER1 12	GER2 Ret	HUN1 6	HUN2 8	ITA1 15	ITA2 15	URU1 EX	URU2 EX	BRA1 EX	BRA2 8	SIN1	SIN2	IND1	IND2	ABU1	ABU2			13th	146
2012	Lola Cars F1	T12/30	Renault RS27-2012	BAH I 2	BAH II 13	MAL1 Ret	MAL2 Ret	JPN1 4	JPN2 14	KOR1 20	KOR2 7	TUR1 5	TUR2 Ret	EUR1 EX	EUR2 EX	MON1 7	MON2 8	GBR1 8	GBR2 Ret	CAN1 8	CAN2 7	USA1 11	USA2 2	GER1 Ret	GER2 5	ESP1 8	ESP2 16	ITA1 5	ITA2 19	ABU1 18	ABU2 5	IND1 6	IND2 6	URU1 9	URU2 4	BRA1 Ret	BRA2 3	SIN1 4	SIN2 1			10th	198
2013	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	F1310	Ferrari Type 057	BAH I 1	BAH II 3	MAL1 2	MAL2 1	JPN1 1	JPN2 16	TUR1 Ret	TUR2 1	AUT1 16	AUT2 5	IRE1 1	IRE2 1	MON1 1	MON2 Ret	ESP1 4	ESP2 1	USA1 1	USA2 7	CAN1 Ret	CAN2 1	GBR1 1	GBR2 9	ITA1 4	ITA2 Ret	POR1 Ret	POR2 6	GER1 9	GER2 3	KOR1 9	KOR2 9	IND1 11	IND2 8	ABU1 15	ABU2 1	SIN1 7	SIN2 Ret			1st	417 (422)
2014	DHL Brabham Racing Organisation	BT104	Mercedes PU106A	BAH I 4	BAH II 2	MAL1 4	MAL2 1	BRA1 Ret	BRA2 Ret	MEX1 1	MEX2 Ret	USA1 2	USA2 2	CAN1 Ret	CAN2 11	GBR1 2	GBR2 16	ESP1 3	ESP2 7	AUT1 1	AUT2 Ret	TUR1 4	TUR2 1	GER1 2	GER2 3	POR1 16†	POR2 Ret	ITA1 14	ITA2 Ret	ABU1 3	ABU2 1	IND1 Ret	IND2 7	CHI1 3	CHI2 1	KOR1 7	KOR2 6	JPN1 2	JPN2 Ret	SIN1 5	SIN2 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