Max Chilton

Maximilian Alexander Chilton (born 21 April 1991) is a British racing driver who last competed for Carlin Motorsport in the IndyCar Series, before announcing his retirement from IndyCar in February 2022.^[1] Prior to IndyCar, he competed in Formula One, driving for Marussia F1 in 2013 and 2014. In 2012, he raced in the GP2 series for Marussia-backed Carlin Motorsport.

Max Chilton
Chilton at the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix
Nationality	British
Born	Maximilian Alexander Chilton (1991-04-21) 21 April 1991 (age 31) Redhill, Surrey, England
IndyCar Series career
78 races run over 6 years
Team(s)	No. 59 (Carlin)
2017 position	11th
Best finish	11th (2017)
First race	2016 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg)
Last race	2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach (Long Beach)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 0 0
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	2013–2014
Teams	Marussia
Car number	4
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
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
Statistics current as of July 4, 2020.

He is the current holder of the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb record.

His brother Tom is also a racing driver, currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship.^[2]

Early life

Chilton was born in Redhill and grew up in Reigate. His father, Grahame Chilton, is a businessman who co-owned the insurance company Benfield Group^[3] until 2008, when it was taken over by Aon plc for £738m. Chilton became vice-chairman of Aon after the deal and also collected around £77m for his stake.^[4] Max Chilton was educated at Ardingly College from 2000 to 2008. His brother, Tom Chilton, is also a racing driver.

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.^[5][6] 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.^[7] This improvement in form, together with 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.^[8]

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.^[9] 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.^[10] The team confirmed the next day that Chilton would race.^[11] 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.^[12]

 

Chilton at the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix

On 11 January it was announced that Marussia F1 would be retaining Chilton for the 2014 season.^[13] 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 was a record for most classified finishes in a rookie season. Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most consecutive classified finishes at 48. 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.^[14] 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, taking place on the same weekend as Jules Bianchi's death, was dedicated to his former Formula One teammate and karting rival.^[15][16]

IndyCar Series

Chip Ganassi (2016–2017)

 

Chilton exiting out of the pits for qualifying in the 2018 Grand Prix of Portland.

On 1 February 2016, Chilton joined Chip Ganassi Racing to compete in the IndyCar Series.^[17]

In the 2017 Indianapolis 500, Chilton dominated the latter part of the race and led 47 of the last 72 laps, but ultimately finished fourth. Chilton led the most laps total with 50.^[18]

Carlin (2018–2021)

On 13 December 2017 it was announced that Chilton would race for Carlin Motorsport for the 2018 IndyCar Series.^[19]

On 6 June 2019, it was announced that Chilton would no longer run races on oval tracks, with the exception of the Indy 500. Conor Daly would run the remainder of the Oval races for the 2019 season for Carlin Motorsport.

In February 2022, Chilton announced his retirement from IndyCar racing, in order to concentrate on other ventures, including the Le Mans Endurance Race.^[20]

World Endurance Championship

Nissan (2015)

Chilton joined Nissan Motorsports to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2015.^[21] Chilton ran the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the team, retiring after 234 laps due to a suspension failure.^[22]

GT Racing

Super GT (2022)

 

Chilton's No. 34 BUSOU Drago Corse Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 at the Suzuka GT 300km round of the 2022 Super GT Series

Chilton was assigned by Ryo Michigami to be the test driver of the BUSOU Drago Corse Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 which had been driven by Masataka Yanagida and Yuji Ide, the team placed Chilton has their third driver in Endurance races during the season.^[23]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2005	T Cars		?	?	?	?	7	?	8th
	T Cars Autumn Trophy		7	0	0	0	4	106	3rd
2006	T Cars	Tomax	20	7	7	?	14	167	2nd
2007	British Formula 3 Championship	Arena Motorsport	20	0	0	0	0	0	18th
2008	British Formula 3 Championship	Hitech Racing	22	0	2	1	2	72	10th
2009	British Formula 3 Championship	Carlin Motorsport	20	1	4	2	5	171	4th
	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Comtec Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	40th
2010	GP2 Series	Ocean Racing Technology	20	0	0	0	0	3	25th
2011	GP2 Series	Carlin	18	0	0	0	0	4	20th
	GP2 Final		2	0	0	0	0	0	23rd
	Formula One	Sahara Force India F1 Team	Test driver
2012	GP2 Series	Marussia Carlin GP2 Team	24	2	2	0	4	169	4th
	Formula One	Marussia F1 Team	Test/Reserve driver
2013	Formula One	Marussia F1 Team	19	0	0	0	0	0	23rd
2014	Formula One	Marussia F1 Team	16	0	0	0	0	0	21st
2015	Indy Lights	Carlin Motorsport	14	1	3	2	6	258	5th
	FIA World Endurance Championship	Nissan Motorsports	1	0	0	0	0	0	34th
2016	IndyCar Series	Chip Ganassi Racing	16	0	0	1	0	267	19th
2017	IndyCar Series	Chip Ganassi Racing	17	0	0	0	0	396	11th
2018	IndyCar Series	Carlin	17	0	0	0	0	223	19th
2019	IndyCar Series	Carlin	12	0	0	0	0	184	22nd
2020	IndyCar Series	Carlin	9	0	0	0	0	147	22nd
2021	IndyCar Series	Carlin	12	0	0	0	0	135	25th
2022	Super GT Series - GT300	BUSOU Drago Corse	Test driver

^* Season still in progress.

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	DC	Points
2010	Ocean Racing Technology	CAT FEA 18	CAT SPR 16	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR 14	IST FEA 9	IST SPR 11	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR 11	SIL FEA 19	SIL SPR 19	HOC FEA 19	HOC SPR 16	HUN FEA 17	HUN SPR 16	SPA FEA 17	SPA SPR 11	MNZ FEA 8	MNZ SPR 5	YMC FEA 12	YMC SPR 12					24th	3
2011	Carlin	IST FEA Ret	IST SPR 17	CAT FEA 12	CAT SPR 11	MON FEA 7	MON SPR 6	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR Ret	SIL FEA Ret	SIL SPR 19	NÜR FEA 17	NÜR SPR 6	HUN FEA 18	HUN SPR Ret	SPA FEA 15	SPA SPR 16	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR 18							20th	4
2012	Marussia Carlin GP2 Team	SEP FEA 3	SEP SPR 7	BHR1 FEA 4	BHR1 SPR 5	BHR2 FEA 5	BHR2 SPR 13	CAT FEA 7	CAT SPR 5	MON FEA 5	MON SPR 2	VAL FEA 7	VAL SPR 4	SIL FEA 9	SIL SPR 19	HOC FEA 14	HOC SPR Ret	HUN FEA 1	HUN SPR 11	SPA FEA 12	SPA SPR 22	MNZ FEA 4	MNZ SPR 6	MRN FEA 1	MRN SPR 19	4th	169

Complete GP2 Asia 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
2009–10	Barwa Addax Team	YMC1 FEA 16	YMC1 SPR 17			BHR1 FEA 18	BHR1 SPR 12	BHR2 FEA 19	BHR2 SPR 15	18th	2
	Ocean Racing Technology			YMC2 FEA 8	YMC2 SPR 6
2011	Carlin	YMC FEA 12	YMC SPR 18	IMO FEA 22	IMO SPR 15					22nd	0

Complete GP2 Final results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	DC	Points
2011	Carlin	YMC FEA Ret	YMC SPR 16	23rd	0

Complete Formula One results

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	WDC	Points
2012	Marussia F1 Team	Marussia MR01	Cosworth CA2012 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	EUR	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	KOR	IND	ABU TD	USA	BRA	–	–
2013	Marussia F1 Team	Marussia MR02	Cosworth CA2013 2.4 V8	AUS 17	MAL 16	CHN 17	BHR 20	ESP 19	MON 14	CAN 19	GBR 17	GER 19	HUN 17	BEL 19	ITA 20	SIN 17	KOR 17	JPN 19	IND 17	ABU 21	USA 21	BRA 19		23rd	0
2014	Marussia F1 Team	Marussia MR03	Ferrari 059/3 1.6 V6 t	AUS 13	MAL 15	BHR 13	CHN 19	ESP 19	MON 14	CAN Ret	AUT 17	GBR 16	GER 17	HUN 16	BEL 16	ITA Ret	SIN 17	JPN 18	RUS Ret	USA	BRA	ABU		21st	0

American open-wheel racing results

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
2015	Carlin Motorsport	STP 12	STP 4	LBH 5	ALA 5	ALA 3	IMS 4	IMS 3	INDY DNS	TOR	TOR	MIL 6	IOW 1	MDO 2	MDO 2	LAG 11	LAG 3	5th	258

IndyCar Series

(key)

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
2016	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara DW12	8	Chevrolet	STP 17	PHX 7	LBH 14	ALA 21	IMS 14	INDY 15	DET 21	DET 22	ROA 20	IOW 19	TOR 18	MDO 16	POC 13	TXS 15	WGL 10	SNM 16		19th	267
2017				Honda	STP 16	LBH 14	ALA 12	PHX 20	IMS 7	INDY 4	DET 11	DET 15	TXS 8	ROA 9	IOW 14	TOR 7	MDO 15	POC 18	GTW 17	WGL 8	SNM 12	11th	396
2018	Carlin		59	Chevrolet	STP 19	PHX 18	LBH 17	ALA 22	IMS 16	INDY 22	DET 20	DET 11	TXS 12	ROA 17	IOW 15	TOR 23	MDO 24	POC 13	GTW 17	POR 18	SNM 21	19th	223
2019					STP 16	COA 21	ALA 22	LBH 14	IMS 18	INDY DNQ	DET 17	DET 15	TXS	RDA 16	TOR 14	IOW	MDO 16	POC	GTW	POR 11	LAG 13	22nd	184
2020					TXS	IMS 16	ROA 17	ROA 15	IOW	IOW	INDY 17	GTW	GTW	MDO 16	MDO 13	IMS 11	IMS 19	STP 12				22nd	147
2021					ALA 20	STP 24	TXS	TXS	IMS Wth	INDY 24	DET 22	DET 22	ROA 10	MDO 18	NSH 18	IMS 20	GTW	POR 19	LAG 21	LBH 15		25th	134

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2016	Dallara	Chevrolet	22	15	Chip Ganassi Racing
2017	Dallara	Honda	15	4	Chip Ganassi Racing
2018	Dallara	Chevrolet	20	22	Carlin
2019	Dallara	Chevrolet	DNQ		Carlin
2020	Dallara	Chevrolet	30	17	Carlin
2021	Dallara	Chevrolet	29	24	Carlin

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2015	Nissan Motorsports	LMP1	Nissan GT-R LM Nismo	Nissan VRX30A 3.0 L Turbo V6	SIL	SPA	LMS Ret	NÜR	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR	34th	0

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 300km of Suzuka results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2022	BUSOU Drago Corse	Masataka Yanagida   Yuji Ide	Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3	GT300	48	6th	6th

Complete Super GT Series results

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	DC	Pts
2022	BUSOU Drago Corse	GT300	Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3	OKA	FUJ TD	SUZ 6	FUJ	SUZ	SUG	AUT	MOT	16th	5

References

1. "Chilton ends IndyCar career, aims for Le Mans". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
2. Lewis. "Power Maxed Racing - Tom Chilton signs for PMR". www.powermaxedracing.com. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
3. . 24 August 2006. Archived from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 4 November 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
4. "Surrey's Richest 50 2011". surreylife.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
5. "Chilton for GP2 Asia". Autosport. Vol. 197, no. 13. 24 September 2009. p. 27. British F3 race winner Max Chilton will graduate to GP2 Asia this winter. Chilton, 18, will test for Barwa Addax in early October before heading to Abu Dhabi for the season opener at the end of the month.
6. Anderson, Ben (25 September 2009). "Chilton to race for Addax in Asia". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
7. Bradley, Charles (28 July 2012). "Chilton fends off Valsecchi to claim maiden GP2 victory at the Hungaroring". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
8. "Max Chilton says F1 with Force India test a "lifetime dream come true"". Autosport. 15 November 2011.
9. . MarussiaF1Team.com. Marussia F1. 20 September 2012. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012. We are very happy to announce that rising star, Max Chilton, has been elevated from our Young Driver Programme to the position of Formula 1 Reserve Driver with effect from the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix next month and for the rest of the current F1 season.
10. Николай Фоменко: "Марусе" нужно объединиться с Петровым [Nikolay Fomenko: "Marussia" should unite with Petrov]. Izvestia (in Russian). News Media. 16 December 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2012. – Кто будет партнером Глока после перехода Шарля Пика в "Катерхэм"? – Резервный пилот – Макс Чилтон.
11. . marussiaf1.com. Marussia F1. 18 December 2012. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
12. "Rookie record for Chilton". Sky Sports. 22 November 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
13. "Marussia confirms Chilton for 2014 - GPUpdate.net". gpupdate.net. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
14. . F1.com. 8 June 2014. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014.
15. "Jules Bianchi's funeral to be held on Tuesday in Nice". AUTOSPORT.com. 19 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
16. "Max Chilton dedicates his Indy Lights victory in Iowa to Jules Bianchi". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
17. Straw, Edd (1 February 2016). "Ex-F1 driver Max Chilton joins Ganassi for 2016 IndyCar season". Autosport. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
18. "2017 Indianapolis 500". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
19. "First all-British team set for IndyCar Series as Carlin sign Max Chilton". BBC Sport. 12 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
20. "Chilton ends IndyCar career, aims for Le Mans". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
21. . Endurance-info.com. 2 March 2015. Archived from the original on 11 April 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
22. "2015 24 Hours of Le Mans". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
23. . Endurance-info.com. 2 March 2015. Archived from the original on 11 April 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2015.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Max Chilton.

• Official website
• Max Chilton career summary at DriverDB.com
• Max Chilton driver statistics at Racing-Reference