25 Facts About Davide Valsecchi

Davide Valsecchi was born on 24 January 1987 and is an Italian former racing driver and the 2012 GP2 Series champion.

Davide Valsecchi won one race in the categories during this period, in the WSR during the 2007 season.

From 2003 to 2005, Davide Valsecchi competed in selected Italian and German Formula Three races, scoring one podium finish in these three years.

In 2005, Davide Valsecchi drove one race in the 3000 Pro Series, a championship for old International Formula 3000 cars.

In 2006, Davide 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.

For 2008, Davide Valsecchi competed in both the GP2 Series and the new GP2 Asia Series for the Durango team, alongside Alberto Valerio.

Davide Valsecchi suffered mild concussion and a spinal injury, and subsequently missed the next two rounds of the championship.

Davide Valsecchi's seat was taken first by compatriot Marcello Puglisi, and then by Ben Hanley.

Davide Valsecchi returned to racing action for the race meeting at Silverstone, where he scored a point in the sprint race.

Davide Valsecchi 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, Davide Valsecchi won the sprint race, his first GP2 victory.

Davide Valsecchi took part in the Renault Driver Development programme.

Davide 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.

For 2011, Davide Valsecchi signed for the new Team AirAsia alongside Luiz Razia, as part of both drivers' test drive deals with the Lotus Formula One team.

Davide Valsecchi finished seventh in the Asia series, losing his championship to Romain Grosjean.

Davide Valsecchi 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.

Davide Valsecchi tested a Formula One car for the first time on 17 November 2010, at the 2010 season-ending "young drivers" test in Abu Dhabi, with Hispania Racing.

Davide Valsecchi 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.

Davide Valsecchi 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.

Davide Valsecchi then drove in Friday practice during the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend in April 2011, replacing Heikki Kovalainen in the morning session.

Davide Valsecchi acted as testing and reserve driver for the Lotus F1 Team in 2013 driving for the team during media events.

Davide Valsecchi was publicly critical of the decision describing it as a "huge blow".

In 2014, Davide Valsecchi drove in the GT Open series for Lamborghini.

Davide Valsecchi is a Sky Sport Formula Two analyst and Sky Sports F1 commentator since 2016 and Top Gear Italia presenter since 2016.

Davide Valsecchi has become known for his extremely excitable commentary style.