Max Chilton

Max Chilton
Chilton at the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix
Nationality	British
Born	(1991-04-21) 21 April 1991 Redhill, Surrey, England
IndyCar Series career
Team(s)	No. 8 (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	2013–2014
Teams	Marussia
Entries	35 (35 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2013 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2014 Russian Grand Prix
2014 position	21st (0 pts)
Related to	Tom Chilton (brother)
Previous series
2015 2010–2012 2009–10–2011 2009 2007–09 2007 2007 2005 2005–06	Indy Lights GP2 Series GP2 Asia Series Formula Renault 3.5 Series British Formula 3 Le Mans Series Star Mazda Championship T Cars Autumn Trophy T Cars

Maximilian Alexander "Max" Chilton (born 21 April 1991) is a British racing driver currently racing for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series. He made his Formula One debut in 2013, racing for the Marussia F1 Team,^[1] having previously raced for the Marussia-backed Carlin GP2 Series team in 2012. His brother Tom is also a racing driver, currently competing in the World Touring Car Championship.

Early life

Chilton was born in Reigate, Surrey. He was educated at Ardingly College from 2000 to 2008.

Career

Karting

Chilton started his racing career at the age of 10 in karts where he spent 2 years learning the ropes in cadet karting before stepping up to junior TKM. He started to make a name for himself with J.I.C.A, where he made regular appearances on the podium, before turning his attention to car racing at the age of 14. Throughout this period Chilton was racing in the Super 1 National Kart Championships.

T Cars

He dovetailed his 2005 karting season with a season in the T Cars championship, for drivers between fourteen and seventeen years of age. He finished eighth in his first season, before going on to finish third in the Autumn Trophy. He continued in T Cars in 2006, where he finished as runner-up to Luciano Bacheta by three points. He won seven races to Bacheta's six.

Formula Three

Chilton qualifying for Hitech Racing at the Croft round of the 2008 British Formula 3 season.

Chilton made his debut at the second round of the 2007 British Formula 3 season for Arena International, despite being below the required age of 16 to take part in the season opener having sought special dispensation on the eve of his 16th birthday. His best result was eleventh, in Bucharest and at Brands Hatch. He made one appearance in the Star Mazda Championship, at Laguna Seca – because he was a guest driver, Chilton was ineligible for points. He drove in the 2007 1000km of Silverstone for Arena with his brother Tom, and they finished sixth overall, eight laps down on the winning Peugeot 908 HDi FAP of Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené.

For 2008 Chilton moved to David Hayle's Hitech Racing, and improved to tenth place in the championship. He recorded pole positions at Monza and Rockingham, and scored two podiums – second in the opening race at Oulton Park and third at Rockingham. He moved to Carlin Motorsport for the 2009 season, taking three pole positions in the first four races. He won twice during the season, the first at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, and the second in his final Formula Three race at Brands Hatch.

GP2 Series

Chilton driving for Carlin at the Monza round of the 2011 GP2 Series season

Chilton graduated to the GP2 Asia Series for the 2009–10 season, driving for Barwa Addax.^[2][3] From there Chilton moved to Ocean Racing Technology for the 2010 GP2 Series season championship with the highest place finish of 5th.

In 2011 Chilton joined his father's Carlin team for the outfit's first foray into GP2, having previously driven for them in Formula Three. Partnered variously by reigning Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Mikhail Aleshin and Álvaro Parente, he finished 22nd in the Asia series and 20th in the main series. He remained with the team, now with backing from the Marussia Formula One team, for the 2012 season alongside Rio Haryanto. He secured his first series podium finish in the feature race of the first round of the championship in Malaysia, and later his first pole position and race victory in the Hungarian feature race.^[4] This improvement in form, allied to consistent points-scoring finishes throughout the season, resulted in Chilton rising to fourth place in the drivers' championship.

Formula One

Force India (2011)

Chilton, driving for Marussia, at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

In November 2011 Chilton drove for the Force India team in the Young Driver test at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit. This was his second time driving Formula One machinery following a straight-line aerodynamic test for the team earlier in the year.^[5]

Marussia (2012–14)

Chilton was appointed Marussia F1's testing and reserve driver for the second half of the 2012 season, starting from the Japanese Grand Prix.^[6] Chilton competed in the First Practice session at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November for Marussia F1.

In December 2012, Nikolai Fomenko, the engineering director of Marussia F1, announced that Chilton would race for the team full-time in 2013.^[7] The team confirmed the next day that Chilton would race.^[1] Chilton qualified 20th on his debut at the Australian GP. He achieved his best finish of the season at the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix, when he finished in 14th place following several retirements. He achieved his best qualifying result of 16th position at the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix in a mixed weather session where he was one of three drivers to go out on slick tyres at the end when the track's condition was improving.

Chilton is the only driver to have finished every race of his rookie season.^[8]

Chilton at the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix

On 11 January it was announced that Marussia F1 would be retaining Chilton for the 2014 season.^[9] Chilton achieved his best finish to date at the Australian Grand Prix, finishing 13th. He finished 13th again at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Chilton had finished every Formula One race he had contested until the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix, which meant that he had finished 25 consecutive races, 19 of them in his rookie season. This is a record for most classified finishes in a rookie season. Nick Heidfeld holds the record for most consecutive classified finishes at 41. Chilton's Canadian Grand Prix retirement came when he collided with his teammate Jules Bianchi on the first lap, sending the Frenchman into the wall at Turn 4. Chilton received a three-place grid penalty at the following race.^[10] His season ended after Marussia went into administration and then closed down, resulting in Chilton missing the last three races of the season and having no seat for 2015.

IndyCar

Indy Lights

With no F1 seat for 2015, Chilton returned to Carlin for testing in order to assist them with their Indy Lights efforts, planning to move on to a full IndyCar Series drive in 2016. Chilton's maiden Indy Lights pole position and race win on the same weekend as Jules Bianchi's passing was dedicated to his former Formula One teammate and karting rival.^[11][12]

IndyCar Series

On 1 February 2016, Chilton joined Chip Ganassi Racing to compete in the IndyCar Series.^[13]

World Endurance Championship

Nissan (2015)

Chilton joined Nissan Motorsports to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2015.^[14] Chilton ran the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the team, retiring after 234 laps due to a suspension failure.^[15]

Racing record

Career summary

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicates fastest lap)

American open-wheel racing results

Indy Lights

* Season still in progress.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2015	Nissan Motorsports	Olivier Pla Jann Mardenborough	Nissan GT-R LM Nismo	LMP1	234	DNF	DNF

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Max Chilton.

• Official website
• Max Chilton career summary at DriverDB.com

Marussia F1/Manor Marussia Notable personnel John McQuilliam Bob Bell John Booth Andrey Cheglakov Nikolai Fomenko Graeme Lowdon Pat Symonds Andy Webb Notable drivers Jules Bianchi Max Chilton Timo Glock Roberto Merhi Charles Pic Alexander Rossi Will Stevens Formula One cars MR01 MR02 MR03/MR03B Related Marussia Motors Manor Motorsport