Davide Valsecchi (born 24 January 1987) is an Italian former racing driver and commentator and analyst for F1 TV and FX Pro Series and Lotus Cup Italia. He is the 2012 GP2 Series champion.
Career
Formula Renault Valsecchi drove in Renault-based series from 2003 to 2007, rising from Italian Formula Renault and the Formula Renault Eurocup to the more powerful cars of the World Series by Renault in 2006. He won one race in the categories during this period, in the WSR during the 2007 season.
Formula Three From 2003 to 2005, Valsecchi also competed in selected Italian and German Formula Three races, scoring one podium finish in these three years.
Formula 3000 In 2005, Valsecchi drove one race in the 3000 Pro Series, a championship for old International Formula 3000 cars.
Sports car racing In 2006, Valsecchi competed in three races of the Le Mans Series for the Barazi-Epsilon team in the LMP2 class of the championship, taking a podium finish in each race.
GP2 Series
For 2008, Valsecchi competed in both the GP2 Series and the new GP2 Asia Series for the Durango team, alongside Alberto Valerio. In qualifying for the second round of the GP2 Series at Istanbul, he crashed heavily at 175 mph, but escaped serious injury. However, he did not take part in the rest of the race meeting. Although the car was badly damaged in the crash, GP2 technical director Didier Perrin suspected a braking problem. Valsecchi's evacuation from the wreckage was also hampered by his crotch strap becoming wedged between the foam seat and the chassis, resulting in a technical bulletin being circulated amongst the GP2 teams with instructions on how to fit the strap correctly. Valsecchi suffered mild concussion and a spinal injury, and subsequently missed the next two rounds of the championship. His seat was taken first by compatriot Marcello Puglisi, and then by Ben Hanley. He returned to racing action for the race meeting at Silverstone, where he scored a point in the sprint race. He later crashed his car heavily during the feature race at Spa-Francorchamps, necessitating another visit to hospital, but this time he was uninjured and scored a point in the sprint race the next day. At Monza, Valsecchi won the sprint race, his first GP2 victory.
Valsecchi remained with Durango for the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season and the start of the 2009 GP2 Series season, where he was partnered by Carlos Iaconelli/Michael Dalle Stelle and Nelson Panciatici respectively. He also took part in the Renault Driver Development programme. In August 2009, he moved to the Barwa Addax team to replace Formula One-bound Romain Grosjean, alongside Vitaly Petrov. He finished the season in 17th place.
Valsecchi joined iSport International for the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season and for the 2010 GP2 Series season, where he was partnered by Oliver Turvey. Valsecchi won the Asian title, with three races to spare, after taking three wins and two second places in the first five races of the season. In the main series, he dropped behind Turvey, but scored his first pole position and won the final race of the season to take eighth in the drivers' championship, his best performance so far.
For 2011, Valsecchi signed for the new Team AirAsia alongside Luiz Razia, as part of both drivers' test drive deals with the Lotus Formula One team. He finished seventh in the Asia series, losing his championship to Romain Grosjean. In the main series, he took the team's first victory in the Monaco feature race, and also set his first fastest lap in the category. After another double points finish at Valencia, however, he failed to score in the remaining ten races, slipping back to eighth in the championship and equalling his previous year's result.
Valsecchi moved to the DAMS team—which had won the drivers' championship in 2011 with Grosjean—for the 2012 season, where he partnered Felipe Nasr. A strong performer from the start of the year, he established a championship lead by winning three out of the four races held in Bahrain. He lost ground mid-season to former team-mate and title rival Razia, who briefly took the championship initiative, but a strong end to the season, including a win at his home round of the championship at Monza, saw him retake the lead in the standings and ultimately win the drivers' championship with 247 points to Razia's total of 222.
Formula One
Valsecchi tested a Formula One car for the first time on 17 November 2010, at the season-ending "young drivers" test in Abu Dhabi, with Hispania Racing. He set a best time of 1:43.013, two seconds faster than regular driver Bruno Senna's qualifying time for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix set on the previous Saturday, although the track conditions had improved in the meantime. Hispania also tested fellow GP2 drivers Pastor Maldonado and Josef Král. He was linked to a reserve drive at Team Lotus for the 2011 season and was confirmed as a Lotus test driver in March of that year. He then drove in Friday practice during the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend in April 2011, replacing Heikki Kovalainen in the morning session.
Having won the 2012 GP2 Series title, Valsecchi aimed to move up into Formula One.
Valsecchi acted as testing and reserve driver for the Lotus F1 Team in 2013 driving for the team during media events. Prior to the 2013 US Grand Prix Lotus driver Kimi Räikkönen announced he would miss the final two races of the season needing emergency back surgery due to an old injury. As reserve driver Valsecchi was expected by many to take the drive. However, with its lucrative place in the constructors' championship on the line, Lotus opted to choose a more experienced driver to fill the position. Wild rumors circulated that drivers such as Michael Schumacher had been approached but ultimately former Caterham and McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen was chosen to fill the seat. Valsecchi was publicly critical of the decision describing it as a "huge blow". Kovalainen finished the final two races in 14th place, failing to score any points for the Lotus F1 team. Valsecchi's public criticism of the team's decision, lack of large personal sponsorship and a desire to return to a racing position have been cited as reasons for his replacement as reserve driver with Caterham driver Charles Pic for 2014.
In 2014, Valsecchi drove in the GT Open series for Lamborghini.
Television
Valsecchi is a Sky Sport Formula Two analyst and Sky Sports F1 commentator since 2016 and Top Gear Italia presenter since 2016. Valsecchi has become known for his extremely excitable commentary style. Valsecchi and Matteo Bobbi were temporarily suspended by Sky Italia for making sexist remarks during an on-air post-race analysis of the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix.
Racing record
Career summary Season Series Team name Races Wins Poles Podiums Points Position 2003 Formula Renault 2000 Italia RP Motorsport 12 0 0 0 0 24 15th Formula Renault 2000 Masters 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC Italian Formula 3 Championship 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2004 Formula Renault 2000 Italia Cram Competition 15 0 0 0 0 31 14th Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup 11 0 0 0 0 2 31st Italian Formula 3 Championship Corbetta 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2005 Formula Renault 2.0 Italia RP Motorsport 17 0 1 1 2 104 7th Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC Italian Formula 3 Championship Corbetta 3 0 0 0 1 35 7th German Formula 3 Championship 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC F3000 International Masters ADM Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 3 14th 2006 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Epsilon Euskadi 15 0 1 0 2 43 10th Le Mans Series - LMP2 Barazi-Epsilon 3 0 0 0 0 6 15th 2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Epsilon Euskadi 17 1 0 0 2 37 16th 2008 GP2 Series Durango 14 1 0 0 1 11 15th GP2 Asia Series 10 0 0 0 0 17 8th 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series Durango 11 1 0 0 4 34 4th 2009 GP2 Series Durango 12 0 0 0 1 12 17th Barwa Addax 8 0 0 0 0 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series iSport International 8 3 1 2 6 56 1st 2010 GP2 Series iSport International 20 1 1 0 3 31 8th Auto GP RP Motorsport 2 0 0 0 0 0 23rd 2011 GP2 Series Team AirAsia/Caterham Team AirAsia 18 1 0 1 2 30 8th GP2 Asia Series 4 0 0 0 1 9 7thFormula OneTeam Lotus Test driver 2012 GP2 Series DAMS 24 4 2 5 10 247 1st 2013Formula OneLotus F1 Team Test driver 2014 International GT Open Eurotech Engineering 0 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2016 Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup Attempto Racing 3 0 0 0 0 0 NC GRT Grasser Racing Team 2 0 0 0 0 2025 FX Racing Weekend - Supersport GT Vortex SAS 2 1 0 0 0 0 NCSource:
Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Italia results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Points 2003 RP Motorsport VLL VLL MGI SPA SPA A1R A1R MIS MIS VAR ADR MNZ 15th 24 2004 Cram Competition VLL1 VLL2 VAR MGI SPA1 SPA2 MNZ1 MNZ2 MNZ3 MIS1 MIS2 MIS3 ADR HOC1 HOC2 MNZ1 MNZ2 14th 31 2005 RP MotorsportVLL1VLL2IMO1IMO2SPA1SPA2MNZ1MNZ2MNZ3MUG1MUG2MIS1MIS2MIS3VARMNZ1MNZ2 7th 86
Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Points 2003 RP MotorsportBRN1BRN2 ASS1 ASS2OSC1OSC2DON1DON2 NC 0 2004 Cram CompetitionMNZ1MNZ2VAL1VAL2MAG1MAG2HOC1HOC2BRN1BRN2DON1DON2SPAIMO1IMO2OSC1OSC2 29th 2 2005 RP Motorsport ZOL1 ZOL2 VAL1 VAL2 LMS1 LMS2 BIL1 BIL2 OSC1 OSC2 DON1 DON2 EST1 EST2 MNZ1 MNZ2 NC† 0Source:
† As Valsecchi was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points
Complete Italian Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points 2003 RP Motorsport Dallara F302 Spiess-Opel MIS BIN MGI IMO PER MUG VAR MNZ VLL 29th 0 2004 Corbetta Angelo Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda ADR MGI PER MUG MUG IMO IMO VAR MNZ MNZ VLL VLL MIS MIS 22nd 0 2005 Corbetta Competizioni Dallara F304 Mugen-Honda ADR VLL IMO IMO MUG MUG VAR MNZ MNZ ADR MIS MIS 7th 35
Complete ATS Formel 3 Cup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Points 2005 Corbetta Competizioni Dallara F304 Mugen-HondaOSC1OSC2HOC1HOC2SAC1SAC2LAU1LAU2NÜR1NÜR2NÜR1NÜR2 ASS1 ASS2LAU1LAU2OSC1OSC2 NC 0
Complete 3000 Pro Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 2005 ADM Motorsport VLL IMO SPA MUG MIS LAU ADR MNZ 15th 3
Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Points 2006 Epsilon Euskadi ZOL1 ZOL2 MON1 IST1 IST2 MIS1 MIS2 SPA1 SPA2 NÜR1 NÜR2 DON1 DON2 LMS1 LMS2 CAT1 CAT2 10th 43 2007 Epsilon Euskadi MNZ1 MNZ2 NÜR1 NÜR2 MON1 HUN1 HUN2 SPA1 SPA2 DON1 DON2 MAG1 MAG2 EST1 EST2 CAT1 CAT2 16th 37Sources:
Complete GP2 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Points 2008 Durango CATFEA CATSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR MONFEA MONSPR MAGFEA MAGSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR VALFEA VALSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR 15th 11 2009 Durango CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR SILFEA SILSPR NÜRFEA NÜRSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR 17th 12 Barwa Addax Team VALFEA VALSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR ALGFEA ALGSPR 2010 iSport International CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 8th 31 2011 Caterham Team AirAsia ISTFEA ISTSPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR NÜRFEA NÜRSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR 8th 30 2012 DAMS SEPFEA SEPSPR BHR1FEA BHR1SPR BHR2FEA BHR2SPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR MRNFEA MRNSPR 1st 247Sources: