Interview: Max Chilton

Max Chilton is a 20 year old British racing driver. He is the brother of BTCC race winner Tom Chilton but is having currently making headlines of his own.

(c) Octane Photographic

Chilton has been moving up the ranks of Motor racing categories, competing successfully in the likes of Karting, Formula 3, GP2 Asia and GP2. He raced for Carlin in the 2011 GP2 series and found some success, but struggled with reliability issues. Formula 1 was knocking at Max's door and in November 2011 he participated in the Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test for Force India, against a number of talented young racers. He impressed, setting his fastest time of 1m.41.575 seconds. In the overall combined fastest times this made him 5th fastest out of the 25 runners, ahead of more experienced drivers like Gary Paffett in the Mclaren.

I caught up with Max via email and asked him some questions on his 2011 season, F1 idols and what he really thinks on the term "pay drivers".


Here is the interview with Max..

1) How old were you when you first raced in a Motorsport series and did it bring success?

Well I started in Karting, racing for 5 years in different categories. This brought success in races but not in an all-round championship, as most people I competed against didn't go to school.

The first car racing series I competed in was in T-Cars and this brought me a lot of success, finishing 2nd in the championship with me winning the most amount of races.

2) Who was your idol or inspiration while growing up?

Schuey was my idol when I was young purely because he was driving a Ferrari and he won a lot.

3) 2009 saw you race to 4th in the overall British F3 championship standings, would you say that was your best Motorsport season to date?

(c) Octane Photographic

I think I would say it was my best year as there was minimal differences between me & my team mate Daniel Ricciardo in speed and my qualifying was, on average, better than his by starting 50% of the races from the front row.

4) Your brother Tom is obviously a very successful Touring car driver; you have gone a different route. Did you ever consider going on a similar path or has the route you took always been a goal?

He has always been into cars as he was not the right build for single seater racing. I started in Karting which, he did not do. From Karting, single seaters are the most common route.

5) GP2 is such a competitive field and there are limited grid spaces, is it hard getting into a series which is so close to F1?

It’s always hard to move up in the higher categories as there is so much competition. My first year was just simply to learn the tracks, as it’s hard to get into a front running team in your first year. Last year was actually a great year for me if you don’t look at the standings.

It was Carlins first year in GP2 and we were always very competitive, but just had bad luck with reliability which dropped me down the standings.

6) You participated in the Abu Dhabi young driver test for Force India in 2011, what did it feel like being confirmed as one of their drivers?

It was a big weight of my shoulders as it has been a dream of mine, and it finally was coming true. It was the best 2 days of my racing career and I feel and was told I had performed outstandingly.

(c) Octane Photographic

7) With F1 being so competitive and limited in the numbers of drivers, do you think it is more about the money now, or "pay drivers", rather than raw talent?

No, I think everyone in F1 is good enough to deserve a chance but as it’s so competitive out there, now that talent alone isn't enough to get you a seat. You need both.

8) What are your plans for 2012?

You will have to wait and see…

Leaving the interview on a mysterious note there Max. Well whatever 2012 holds for Max, I wish him all the best. It was particularly interesting to see hos thoughts on "pay drivers", him being so close to F1 and seeing what it is really like. I was very impressed with his Abu Dhabu young driver test results and was eager to ask him some questions, so i am grateful for his answers.

Check Max's website here and follow him on twitter here.