Maximilian Alexander Chilton (born 21 April 1991) is a British former

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

, who competed in

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

from to . Born and raised in

Redhill, Surrey Redhill () is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead within the county of Surrey, England. The town, which adjoins the town of Reigate to the west, is due south of London Borough of Croydon, Croydon in ...

, Chilton is the younger brother of racing driver

Tom Chilton Thomas James Chilton (born 15 March 1985) is a British racing driver who currently drives for Excelr8 Motorsport, Team VERTU in the 2025 British Touring Car Championship, British Touring Car Championship. He has spent most of his career competi ...

. He competed in the

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Ecc ...

from

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, finishing fourth in the latter with Carlin. Chilton competed in Formula One for

Marussia Marussia Motors ( ) was a Russian sports car company founded in 2007. It was the first Russian company to produce a supercar. It designed, and manufactured prototypes of both the B1 and the B2 sport cars. Marussia was led by former motor racer Ni ...

from to . After Formula One, Chilton competed in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

from

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

for

Chip Ganassi Floyd "Chip" Ganassi Jr. (born May 24, 1958) is an American businessman, former racing driver, current team owner and member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. He has been involved with the North American auto racing scene for over 30 ye ...

and Carlin. He is the current holder of the hillclimb record at the

Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hillclimbing, hillclimb and other events, held in Goodwood House, West Sussex, in late June or early July. Th ...

Early life

Chilton was born in Redhill and grew up in

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'', and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The ea ...

. His father, Grahame Chilton, is a businessman who co-owned the insurance company

Benfield Group Benfield Group was a leading independent reinsurance and risk intermediary. Customers included most of the world's major insurance and reinsurance companies as well as government entities and global corporations. A former constituent of the FTSE ...

until 2008, when it was taken over by

Aon plc Aon plc () is a British-American professional services firm that offers a range of risk-mitigation products. Aon has over 66,000 employees across 120 countries. Founded in Chicago by Patrick Ryan, Aon was created in 1982 when the Ryan Insuran ...

for £738m. Chilton became vice-chairman of Aon after the deal and also collected around £77m for his stake. Max Chilton was educated at

Ardingly College Ardingly College () is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school in the English Public school (UK), public school tradition located near Ardingly, West Sussex, England. The school ...

from 2000 to 2008. His brother,

, 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 The Super One National Kart Championships (S1) is a karting championship based in the United Kingdom. It has been in operation since 1983 and is regarded as the premier karting championship in the UK, producing professional drivers including Le ...

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 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 Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

and at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

. He made one appearance in the

Star Mazda Championship The USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, formerly known as the Star Mazda Championship, Pro Mazda Championship, and later Indy Pro 2000 Championship, is an open-wheel racing series serving as the third step on the Road to Indy la ...

, at

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

– 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 The Peugeot 908 HDi FAP is a sports prototype racing car built by the French automobile manufacturer Peugeot to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, starting in 2007 and eventually winning in 2009. This effort, in development sinc ...

Nicolas Minassian Nicolas Minassian (Armenian language, Armenian: ; born 28 February 1973) is a French people, French professional racing driver of Armenians, Armenian descent. After finishing 2nd place in the 1993 Formula Renault Eurocup, Marseille-born Minassia ...

and

Marc Gené Marc Gené i Guerrero (born 29 March 1974) is a Spanish professional racing driver. He is best known as a tester for Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams and Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari in Formula One, Minardi Formula One driver and factory ...

. For 2008 Chilton moved to David Hayle's

Hitech Racing Hitech Grand Prix (formerly Hitech Racing, currently racing as Hitech TGR for sponsorship reasons) is a British motor racing team. It was founded by Dennis Rushen and David Hayle in 2002 and relaunched by Oliver Oakes in 2015. Currently, Hite ...

, and improved to tenth place in the championship. He recorded pole positions at

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

and Rockingham, and scored two podiums – second in the opening race at

Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced Race track, track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England, from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...

and third at Rockingham. He moved to

Carlin Motorsport Carlin, formerly known as Carlin Motorsport and Rodin Carlin, was a motor racing team based in the United Kingdom. It primarily competed in junior racing championships such as FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3. Carlin also competed in top level ...

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 The Algarve International Circuit (), commonly referred to as Portimão Circuit, is a race circuit located in Portimão, Algarve region, Portugal. The development includes a karting track, off-road track, technology park, five-star hotel, sp ...

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro (district), Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2022 was 63,079 in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão. In ...

, and the second in his final Formula Three race at

GP2 Series

Chilton graduated to the

GP2 Asia Series The GP2 Asia Series was a form of open wheel motor racing as a result of a spin-off from the GP2 Series. History The series was officially announced during the weekend of the 2007 Monaco GP2 Series round. GP2 series organiser Bruno Michel com ...

for the 2009–10 season, driving for Barwa Addax. From there Chilton moved to

Ocean Racing Technology Ocean Racing Technology (ORT) was a racing team that took part in both the GP2 Main Series and the GP2 Asia Series Championships. The team, owned by Tiago Monteiro and José Guedes, was formed at the end of the 2008 season after being purchased ...

for the

2010 GP2 Series season The 2010 GP2 Series season was the forty-fourth season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also sixth season under the GP2 Series moniker. The season began on 8 May at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain and ended ...

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 Álvaro Maia Parente (born 4 October 1984) is a Portugal, Portuguese professional racing driver. Career Early career After winning the Karting European Junior Championship in 1998, Porto-born Parente made his debut in auto racing in 2001 at ...

, he finished 22nd in the

Asia series The Asia Series was an international club baseball competition, contested by the champions of all four professional leagues associated with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC)—Australian Baseball League (ABL), Chinese Professi ...

and 20th in the main series. He remained with the team, now with backing from the

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 Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, and later his first pole position and race victory in the Hungarian feature race. 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)

In November 2011 Chilton drove for the

Force India Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 200 ...

team in the Young Driver test at Abu Dhabi's

Yas Marina Circuit The Yas Marina Circuit (Arabic: حلبة مرسى ياس) is a 5.281 km (3.281 mi) motorsport circuit situated on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke. It has hosted the season-ending Formula One ...

. This was his second time driving

machinery following a straight-line aerodynamic test for the team earlier in the year.

Marussia (2012–14)

Chilton was appointed

Marussia F1 The Marussia F1 Team (subsequently Manor Marussia F1 Team) was a Formula One racing team and constructor which was based in Banbury, Oxfordshire and then later Dinnington, South Yorkshire, Dinnington, South Yorkshire in the United Kingdom and co ...

's testing and reserve driver for the second half of the 2012 season, starting from the

Japanese Grand Prix The Japanese Grand Prix () is a motor racing event in the calendar of the Formula One World Championship. Historically, Japan has been one of the last races of the season, and as such the Japanese Grand Prix has been the venue for many title-de ...

. Chilton competed in the first practice session at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November for Marussia F1. In December 2012,

Nikolai Fomenko Nikolay Vladimirovich Fomenko (, born 30 April 1962) is a Russian musician, comic actor, professional motor racer, former president of Marussia Motors and former engineering director of Marussia F1. Biography Born in Leningrad on April 30, ...

, the engineering director of Marussia F1, announced that Chilton would race for the team full-time in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. The team confirmed the next day that Chilton would race. 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. Max Chilton 2014 Singapore FP2

On 11 January it was announced that

would be retaining Chilton for the season. Chilton achieved his best finish to date at the , finishing 13th. He finished 13th again at the . 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 Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

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 Jules Lucien André Bianchi (; 3 August 1989 – 17 July 2015) was a French racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Nice, Bianchi was the grandson of endurance racing driver Mauro Bianchi and the great-nephew ...

on the first lap, sending the Frenchman into the wall at Turn 4. Chilton received a three-place grid penalty at the following race. 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 Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...

efforts, planning to move on to a full

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.

IndyCar Series

Chip Ganassi Racing (2016–2017)

On 1 February 2016, Chilton joined

Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization competing in the NTT IndyCar Series. They have formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, Global Rally ...

to compete in the

. In the

2017 Indianapolis 500 The 2017 Indianapolis 500 (branded as the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil for sponsorship reasons) was a Verizon IndyCar Series race held on Sunday May 28, 2017, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speed ...

, 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.

Carlin (2018–2021)

On 13 December 2017 it was announced that Chilton would race for

for the 2018 IndyCar Series. On 6 June 2019, it was announced that Chilton would no longer run races on oval tracks, with the exception of the

Indy 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

Conor Daly Conor James Daly (born December 15, 1991) is an American professional auto racing, racing driver. He competes in the IndyCar Series driving the No. 76 Chevrolet for Juncos Hollinger Racing. He also competes occasionally in NASCAR and has also rac ...

would run the remainder of the Oval races for the 2019 season for Carlin Motorsport. Max-Chilton-2020-HarvestGP

In February 2022, Chilton announced his retirement from

IndyCar racing ''IndyCar Racing'' is a racing video game by Papyrus Design Group released in 1993. Papyrus, consisting of David Kaemmer and Omar Khudari, previously developed '' Indianapolis 500: The Simulation'', released in 1989. The game was intended as a ...

, in order to concentrate on other ventures, including the

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

Endurance Race.

World Endurance Championship

Nissan (2015)

Chilton joined Nissan Motorsports to compete in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

in 2015. Chilton ran the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

for the team, retiring after 234 laps due to a suspension failure.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete British Formula Three Championship results

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

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 GP2 Final 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

IndyCar Series

( key)

Indianapolis 500

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chilton, Max 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Reigate People educated at Ardingly College English racing drivers English Formula One drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers GP2 Asia Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers GP2 Series drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers Marussia Formula One drivers Indy Lights drivers IndyCar Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Arena Motorsport drivers Hitech Grand Prix drivers Carlin racing drivers Comtec Racing drivers Ocean Racing Technology drivers Manor Motorsport drivers Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Nismo drivers