F1 pundit reveals moment he knew ‘I was going to die’ before major crash

F1 pundit Anthony Davidson has spoken of the moment he knew he was “going to die” shortly before his crash at Le Mans in 2012.

The now Sky pundit collided with the Ferrari and was sent spinning into the air before landing with a heavy impact with the barriers, a crash which fractured two of Davidson’s vertebrae.

Antohny Davidson recalls moments before Le Mans horror crash

Davidson made a full recovery and continues to be a presence on our screens during a race weekend but he has now told F1.com that he had premonition he was going to die before he even got in the car.

“I went into Le Mans a little bit trepidatious, and I had this feeling hanging over me all week,” he said. “I couldn’t put it into context, I couldn’t verbalise it, but I just knew after doing a sport for so many years of my life… I wanted to suppress it and put it to the back of my mind, but it was so odd.

“I never do this, but I had left the driver room before the race, then I turned back and tidied everything up. After that I picked up my phone and sent my wife a message saying, ‘I love you’. It was almost as if in my head I knew I wasn’t going to come back into that room. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. It’s like I had a premonition – I really did.”

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Speaking of the crash itself, Davidson said it was “a dawn of realisation” but took comfort that he felt “completely at ease.”

“Then it was game face on… I got in the car, I was out there doing my thing, taking risks, driving like a lunatic, as you have to. But when that moment happened, where the driver I was lapping turned in and the cars made contact, as soon as my car went up in the air, the engine died and everything went silent, it was like a dawn of realisation, ‘This is the moment!’

“It was the weirdest thing. Basically, it felt like I was going to die… I knew I was going to die. But then I felt completely at ease with it. It’s almost comforting to know that in those moments, something happens to your brain where this calming drug, I don’t know, is pumped out through your body. I’ve heard people, when they’re drowning, say similar things.”

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