Taylor Barnard: From Karting Champion to Formula E Record Breaker

Taylor Barnard is a British driver whose route ran from karting titles through Formula 4, Formula 3 and Formula 2 to a place in Formula E. He held a McLaren seat for 2024-25 and then joined DS Penske. Along the way he has built up a long list of youngest-driver records in the series.

Who is Taylor Barnard?

Taylor Barnard is a British racing driver. He was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England, on 1 June 2004, and he grew up in nearby Horsford. He names Ayrton Senna as his racing idol, and Senna won three Formula One World Drivers' Championships.

His career followed a clear sequence of steps, each one moving him up from karts to cars and then onto the professional single-seater ladder. The sections below take those steps in order.

The record list that came later is a feature of his time in Formula E rather than a single moment. It reflects how early in his career he reached each milestone.

From karting titles to Formula 3 wins and a run of Formula E youngest-driver records.

How did karting shape his early career?

The Trent Valley Kart Club was where his karting began, in 2012. He remained in the Super 1 National Championship until he won its title in 2017. He also took the Kartmasters British Grand Prix twice and the LGM Series in the IAME Cadet class.

Europe came next, when he drove in OK Junior for KR Motorsport and won the WSK Final Cup at the end of that season. Nico Rosberg, the former Formula One champion, took him on as a protege, and he joined the Racing Academy that Rosberg ran.

In OK Senior the following season he opened with a WSK Champions Cup win and finished fourth in the European Championship. He also ended second in the Karting World Championship, narrowly beaten by Lorenzo Travisanutto in the wet.

His final karting season, in 2020, was again with the Rosberg Racing Academy. He finished runner-up in the World Championship once more, this time to Callum Bradshaw, and added another WSK Champions Cup and the WSK Open Cup.

What did his first car seasons look like?

Barnard's car debut came in 2020, when he entered three rounds of Italian F4 with AKM Motorsport. A pair of points at Monza left him 26th in the standings. His first full car campaign followed in ADAC Formula 4 with BWR Motorsports, a team linked to Rosberg.

The 2021 ADAC season was disrupted. After three rounds, in which his best result was fourth, the team missed two events and returned only for the finale. Barnard finished 17th in the championship with 17 points.

For 2022 he moved to newly formed PHM Racing, where Nikita Bedrin and Jonas Ried were his teammates. The year began in January with the F4 UAE Championship, where he and his team took their first car-racing win at Yas Marina. Reliability problems then hampered the rest of the programme.

How did the 2022 Formula 4 campaign end?

His main 2022 programme was in Italian F4 and ADAC Formula 4, both with PHM Racing. He finished eighth in the Italian series, with one podium at Vallelunga. The ADAC series was the more productive of the two, and it ended with him as runner-up after a late run of victories.

The ADAC weekends began with two sixth places and a clash with Ried at Spa-Francorchamps. A pair of podiums at Hockenheim turned the season around, and points finishes at Zandvoort kept the momentum going.

The Nurburgring round was the turning point. He won Race 1 after the leader, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, took a five-second penalty for a jump start. He then beat Antonelli again in Race 2 to take a second win in the same round.

With Antonelli absent from the penultimate round at the Lausitzring, Barnard took advantage. He won two races across that weekend and finished second in Race 1, in a weekend dominated by battles with his teammate Bedrin.

The season finale added a victory in the last race and a pair of podiums, which made him runner-up in the championship.

How did he fare in Formula Regional Middle East?

Barnard raced in the first-ever Formula Regional Middle East Championship in 2023 with PHM Racing. He won at Kuwait Motor Town after the original winner, Joshua Dufek, was disqualified, and he won again at the next round. He lost the title race to Kimi Antonelli and finished runner-up.

After two podiums at Dubai Autodrome in the opening round, he took his first victory at Kuwait Motor Town. He had crossed the line second, but was moved up after Dufek was disqualified for a technical infringement. A second win came at the next Kuwait round, and three podiums followed at the penultimate round in Dubai.

Two disappointing races in the final round, both finishing outside the points, ended his title chance. The strong debut still earned him second place overall.

He returned in 2024 with PHM AIX Racing and again finished runner-up. He scored 176 points, 79 behind champion Tuukka Taponen. Across the season he took four pole positions and five race wins, though a single podium at the second Yas Marina round dented his title bid.

What happened in his 2023 FIA Formula 3 season?

Barnard tested for Jenzer Motorsport in the autumn of 2022 and was confirmed as the team's final driver for 2023 that January. He scored his first points at Melbourne, finishing ninth in the feature race, and then ran a streak of five points-scoring finishes.

At Monaco he reached the top 12 for the first time with a ninth-place finish, then collected points in both races, finishing fifth in one and eighth in the other. At Barcelona he qualified on the front row, but he could not keep pace with the faster cars in the sprint race.

At Silverstone he was second at the start of the sprint race and in contention for the win. Contact with Sebastian Montoya sent Montoya into a spin, however, and Barnard lost places before finishing 30th.

Spa gave him his breakthrough. He qualified tenth and took second in the sprint race for his first series podium. The next day he won the feature race in mixed conditions, holding off Christian Mansell for his first win in the category.

Monza brought fourth and third places, and he finished the year tenth in the championship with 72 points and three podiums.

In September 2023 the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award shortlist included him, along with Arvid Lindblad, Callum Voisin and Joseph Loake.

What was his 2024 Formula 2 season like?

Barnard moved up to FIA Formula 2 in 2024 with PHM AIX Racing, alongside Joshua Durksen. He won a sprint race at Monaco, which was his maiden victory, and he finished the season 21st with 18 points. He left the series before the Monza round to join McLaren.

He qualified ninth in the Bahrain opener, but his race ended early with brake problems. Seventh place at Imola, after a crash involving several cars on lap one, gave him his first points, although the result was later taken away by a disqualification over the start procedure.

At Monaco he started from reverse pole and won the sprint race. Sixth in qualifying at Austria and eighth in the feature race followed. At Budapest he scored double points, finishing seventh and ninth after starting 17th.

During the summer break he agreed to join McLaren for the 2024-25 Formula E season, which ended his Formula 2 campaign before Monza.

How did his Formula E career begin with McLaren?

Barnard's Formula E story began with a mandatory McLaren rookie test in October 2023, where he finished seventh and was the fastest rookie. In January 2024 he was named McLaren's reserve and development driver, and that year he made his first race appearances.

Monaco debut and the first points

He stepped in for Sam Bird at the 2024 Monaco ePrix from FP2 onwards, after Bird hurt a hand in a crash in FP1. Barnard qualified 22nd and finished 14th. At 19 years and 331 days he became the youngest driver to start an ePrix.

He then covered for Bird again at the Berlin ePrix. In Race 1 he finished tenth for his first Formula E points, which also made him the youngest points scorer. He closed the double-header with eighth in Race 2.

Full-time with McLaren in 2024-25

When Jake Hughes left for Maserati MSG at the close of 2023-24, a full-time seat opened, and Barnard took it alongside Sam Bird. At the Sao Paulo season opener he qualified 17th and finished third. That podium made him the youngest podium finisher at 20 years and 189 days.

Third in Race 1 at Jeddah followed. At Race 2 he took pole for the first time, which made him the youngest polesitter at 20 years and 259 days, but he could only finish second. Third-place finishes at Tokyo and Shanghai added to his total, and he ended the season fourth in the Drivers' Championship. McLaren left Formula E at the end of that season.

Why did he move to DS Penske?

In September 2025 DS Penske announced Barnard as a signing for the 2025-26 season. He was to partner Maximilian Gunther, taking the seat vacated by Jean-Eric Vergne. The move was his next step after a McLaren spell that ended when the team left Formula E.

The move kept him in the same championship but placed him in a new team. At the season finale in London he won Race 2, which made him the youngest race winner in the series. He finished the year 11th in the drivers' standings with 68 points.

How do his results compare across series?

What is his legacy in motorsport?

Barnard's record so far rests on several firsts: a Formula 3 feature win at Spa, a Formula 2 sprint win at Monaco and multiple Formula Regional Middle East victories. In Formula E he holds a long list of youngest-driver marks, including the youngest ePrix winner.

Those records are the clearest measure of his progress in the series. He holds the youngest mark for starting an ePrix, scoring points, reaching the podium, taking pole, starting from the front row, leading a race, setting the fastest lap and winning an ePrix.