Jack Aitken: From Formula One Reserve to Cadillac Sports Car Champion

Jack Aitken is a racing driver from London who competes in IMSA SportsCar Championship for Cadillac Whelen and in the World Endurance Championship for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota. He won the 2026 GTP drivers' title in IMSA. He made a single Formula One start in 2020, when he replaced George Russell at Williams.

Where did Aitken's racing start?

Aitken was born on 23 September 1995 in London, to a Scottish father and a South Korean mother. He holds dual British and South Korean citizenship. He started karting aged seven at Buckmore Park in Kent, and in 2010 he took part in the Super 1 National Kart Championships in the Rotax Mini Max class, finishing third behind George Russell, who became his rival in later years.

He moved into single-seaters in 2012 with the Formula Renault BARC Winter Series, where he won the final race at Rockingham and finished second overall behind a Fortec teammate. The same year he took two wins in the Dunlop InterSteps Championship and finished third. In 2013 he was runner-up in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, in a field that included Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon.

Russell and Aitken later shared a team at ART Grand Prix in Formula 2, so the rivalry that began in karting became a working partnership in the paddock.

A reserve driver who made one Formula One start and later became a champion in sports car racing.

How did Aitken rise through European single-seaters?

Aitken entered his first full Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season in 2014 with Fortec. He won once at the Hungaroring and finished seventh in the standings, while also finishing his A-Level qualifications at Westminster School. A year later, with Koiranen GP, he took both the Eurocup and Alps titles, winning nine races in total.

His first American appearance came in 2014 with a single round of the Pro Mazda Championship at Sonoma, where he finished fourth. In 2015 he took part in the Pro Mazda Winterfest for Team Pelfrey and won three of the five races. That result put him ahead of future IndyCar driver Dalton Kellett and the future Williams Formula One driver Nicholas Latifi.

In 2016 he also raced in the Euroformula Open, winning twice and taking two poles in four races, plus one pole in the Formula V8 3.5 Series. Those brief appearances showed that his speed was not limited to one championship, and they gave him a useful run of results before he committed to a full season in GP3.

What did Aitken achieve in GP3?

In January 2016 he stepped up to the GP3 Series with Arden International. In his first season he won at Spa-Francorchamps and took six further podiums to finish fifth overall, one point behind his teammate Jake Dennis. He was a regular top-five contender, and the team's strong pace helped him collect points at most rounds.

For 2017 he switched to ART Grand Prix, the reigning team champions, and took a win at the Hungaroring along with five further podiums. He finished second in the championship with 141 points, behind George Russell on 220. That season confirmed him as one of the leading young drivers in the European junior ranks.

How did Aitken's Formula 2 career unfold?

Formula 2 followed in 2018, when ART Grand Prix signed him again alongside Russell. He took his first podium with second place in the Baku feature race and later won the Barcelona sprint race. He finished eleventh in the championship with 63 points, while Russell claimed the title with 287 points.

In 2019 he switched to Campos, where Dorian Boccolacci was his first partner, followed by Arjun Maini and Marino Sato. He won the Baku feature race, which was also Campos's first win in Formula 2, and he won his home sprint race at Silverstone after overtaking Louis Deletraz on lap 17. He also won the Monza sprint race after defending against Jordan King, whose later criticism of the move kept the story in the paddock. Aitken finished fifth in the standings, scoring 159 of Campos' 189 points.

In 2020 he stayed at Campos alongside Guilherme Samaia. He finished third in both the feature race and the sprint race at the second Silverstone round, but a high-speed collision with Luca Ghiotto at Sochi brought a red flag. He missed the final round in Bahrain to race in Formula One, and finished fourteenth with 48 points, all of which came from his team.

He left Campos and Formula 2 after 2020, but he returned in 2021 with HWA Racelab as a replacement for Matteo Nannini, who had withdrawn after the first round. He was signed for the second and third rounds and later retained for Silverstone. His best result was ninth in the second Monaco sprint race, and he scored no points over his three rounds.

What was Aitken's role in Formula One?

Aitken joined the Renault young driver programme in February 2016 and became a test driver as the programme developed. He sampled Formula One machinery for the first time in 2017, when he tested the Lotus E20 at Jerez. In 2018 he was appointed third and reserve driver for Renault and tested the Renault R.S.18 at Barcelona and at Suzuka. He continued as a test driver in 2019 and left the team in February 2020.

For 2020 he joined the Williams Driver Academy alongside Dan Ticktum, Roy Nissany and Jamie Chadwick, and Williams made him their reserve driver. He drove in first practice at the Styrian Grand Prix that year. His race debut came at the Sakhir Grand Prix when George Russell was promoted to Mercedes after Lewis Hamilton's positive test for coronavirus. Aitken chose the number 89 he had used in karting.

He qualified eighteenth, within a tenth of a second of his team-mate Nicholas Latifi. On lap 61 of 87 he spun at the final corner, hit a barrier and broke his front wing. He returned to the pits for a new wing and finished sixteenth. He later said there were many positives to take from the weekend despite the incident.

Aitken was then due to take Thursday media duties ahead of Abu Dhabi, but Russell returned to the team before first practice, so Aitken did not drive that weekend. In 2021 he was retained as Williams' reserve driver and took part in first practice at Abu Dhabi, replacing Russell for the session. He did not take part in any practice in 2022, and at the start of 2023 he left Williams to focus on sports cars.

How did Aitken move into sports car racing?

After leaving the Formula 2 grid he joined the GT World Challenge Europe in 2021 with Emil Frey Racing, driving a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo with Konsta Lappalainen. His first race was the 3 Hours of Monza, where the team qualified fourteenth, but the car retired after a puncture caused damage and Aitken did not drive in the race.

At the 2021 Spa 24 Hours he was caught up in a major crash after Raidillon. His car hit the barrier, bounced back onto the track and was hit from behind, and two more cars became entangled. He was taken to hospital and stayed overnight with a broken collarbone, a fractured vertebra and a small lung contusion. His injuries were described as serious but not life threatening.

In 2022 he moved to the ADAC GT Masters with Albert Costa and raced exclusively in the endurance rounds of the GT World Challenge Europe. He finished thirteenth at Imola and sixth at Paul Ricard, but he failed to finish the 24 Hours of Spa after Costa crashed out of the car.

The same season brought his first Le Mans start. He competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Algarve Pro Racing with Sophia Florsch and John Falb. The trio finished 25th overall, twentieth in the LMP2 class and fifth in the Pro-Am subclass.

When did Aitken win in IMSA?

In 2023 Aitken raced the new Cadillac V-LMDh in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Whelen Engineering Racing, while also racing in the DTM with Emil Frey Racing. He won the 12 Hours of Sebring on 18 March, after the GTP cars ahead of him crashed into each other only minutes from the flag.

He became a full-time IMSA driver in 2024 with Action Express Racing, partnering Pipo Derani, and he also returned to the DTM. In 2025 he stayed with Action Express alongside Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti and finished as the IMSA runner-up. He won the last two races of that season at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta. That season he also finished eighth in the DTM with two victories, and he then announced that he was leaving the series to focus on his other racing commitments.

Aitken's 2025 Le Mans was a setback for the No. 311 Cadillac Whelen entry, which did not finish after losing drive in the 17th hour. The year closed with a runner-up finish in IMSA, and he went on to win the 2026 GTP drivers' title.

Did Aitken race in Formula E?

Aitken joined Envision Racing for the rookie test at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit in late April 2023. He then took part in his first free practice session at the Rome ePrix. His electric racing stayed limited to that practice and testing, and his main programme remained in sports cars.

What does Aitken's racing record look like?