Will Stevens (politician)
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William Jonathan Richard Stevens (born 28 June 1991) is a British
racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
, currently competing in the
FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...
for Jota. Stevens competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing, Stevens won the
2022 FIA World Endurance Championship The 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship will be the tenth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The seri ...
in the LMP2 class with Jota. Stevens formerly competed in the Formula Renault Eurocup, Toyota Racing Series and British Formula Renault. In Formula One, he made his debut at the
2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix The 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (formally known as the 2014 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Yas Marina Circuit on 23 November 2014. The race was the nineteenth and final round of the 2014 seas ...
with Caterham, replacing Marcus Ericsson for the double points race. During , he competed with Marussia. In 2016, he competed in the Blancpain GT Series and the
FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...
(LMP2) while in 2017, Stevens continues to race for Belgian Audi Club Team WRT racing an Audi R8 LMS in the Blancpain GT Series’ Sprint and Endurance Cups, Blancpain GT Asia Series and the Audi R8 LMS Cup. In the
2017 24 Hours of Le Mans The 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 85e 24 Heures du Mans) was a 24-hour automobile endurance event held for Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars from 17 to 18 June 2017 at the Circuit de la Sart ...
, Stevens raced a Ferrari 488 Italia GTE in the GTE AM category for JMW Motorsport, co-driving alongside fellow Briton Rob Smith and Belgian Dries Vanthoor. They won the class, finishing two laps clear of their closest rivals.


Early life and career

William Jonathan Richard Stevens was born on 28 June 1991 in
Rochford Rochford is a town in Essex, England, north of Southend-on-Sea, from London and from Chelmsford, the county town. At the 2011 census, the Civil parishes in England, civil parish, which includes the town and London Southend Airport, had a popu ...
, Essex, England.


Karting

Stevens started his racing career in 2003 aged 12 in karts. After one year of racing in the National Cadet championship he joined Rotax Mini Max. He raced in a lot of different championships in Britain and outside, and after finishing 7th in the Rotax class in Super One he joined
Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...
.


Formula Renault 2.0

He ended 7th in the 2009 Formula Renault 2.0 UK and 4th in 2010. In 2011 he switched to the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, where he finished 4th.


Formula Renault 3.5

Stevens jumped to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2012, finishing 12th in his first year. In 2013 he scored five podiums in 17 races and ended fourth in the season standings. The driver got two wins and four podiums in 2014 to finish sixth in points.


Formula One


Marussia and Caterham (2014)

In October 2014 Marussia F1 announced that Stevens had joined the team as a reserve driver for the remainder of the 2014 season. They had originally planned to run him in first practice session of the
2014 Japanese Grand Prix The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix (formally the 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 5 October 2014 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Mie. It was the 15th race of the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship, and t ...
; however they were unable to return the relevant paperwork to the
FIA Contract Recognition Board The FIA Contract Recognition Board (CRB) is a body set up by motorsports governing body, the FIA, to determine the legality of driver contracts and to settle disputes between Formula One teams over such contracts. The CRB meets in Geneva, Switzer ...
in time. The following month he made his Formula One debut with Caterham F1 at the
2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix The 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (formally known as the 2014 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Yas Marina Circuit on 23 November 2014. The race was the nineteenth and final round of the 2014 seas ...
, having previously tested for the team. He finished the race in 17th place, one lap down. He paid £500,000 for the privilege.


Marussia (2015)

In February 2015,
Manor Marussia 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 in the United Kingdom and competed with a Russian lice ...
announced Stevens as one of their drivers whilst bringing substantial funding to the team, along with Roberto Merhi. Marussia attended the
Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual motor racing event which is under contract to host Formula One until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venu ...
but did not compete due to a technical issue. In the Malaysian Grand Prix Stevens drove the Marussia car for the first time in Practice 1. However, he did not compete in qualifying or the race because of a problem with the fuel system. In the Chinese Grand Prix Stevens finished his first race for Marussia in 15th place ahead of his teammate Merhi after being lapped twice by race winner Lewis Hamilton. Stevens finished ahead of Merhi in Bahrain and Spain. He finished behind Merhi in the
Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigiou ...
in 16th. In the Canadian Grand Prix he qualified behind Merhi but moved up to 17th due to penalties to Jenson Button,
Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2007 to 2022 for BMW Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing, Red Bull, Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari, and Aston Martin in Formula One ...
and
Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Belgian-Dutch Auto racing, racing driver and the 2021 Formula One World Championship, 2021 and 2022 Formula One World Championship, 2022 Formula One World Champion. He Formula One drivers ...
. In the race on lap 52, Romain Grosjean of
Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
was lapping Stevens but cut his left rear tyre while doing so which caused both drivers to make an emergency pit stop. The mechanics of both Lotus and Marussia had little time to react to their drivers pitting so that meant both Grosjean and Stevens took long pit stops. Stevens complained to his team on the radio about the incident. Grosjean received a 5-second penalty for the collision but Stevens had dropped from being 4 seconds behind Merhi to a minute behind him. However, Merhi was forced to retire on lap 56 after a drive-shaft issue. Stevens eventually finished in 17th place, 4 laps down on race winner Lewis Hamilton. After the race, Grosjean apologised to Stevens for the incident. During the later races of the season, Merhi was replaced by Alexander Rossi who outpaced Stevens in 3 of 4 races.


WEC and Blancpain (2016)

In February 2016, Manor Motorsport, a team made by former Manor Racing employees John Booth and Graeme Lowdon, decided to compete in the
FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...
, with Stevens and former Manor F3 driver Tor Graves. The following month it was announced that Stevens would dovetail his WEC campaign with racing in the 2016 Blancpain GT Series for the W Racing Team, driving an Audi R8 LMS with René Rast.


Le Mans 24 Hours (2017)

In May 2017 it was confirmed that Stevens would co-drive the JMW Ferrari 488 GTE-Am alongside two Le Mans 'rookies', nineteen-year-old Dries Vanthoor of Holland and British driver Rob Smith. The team's Ferrari 488 was fresh out of the box, making its race debut, and was quickly on the pace; third-quickest in first free-practice. The team focused on fulfilling driver qualification requirements in First Qualifying (8th in GTE-Am, 3:56.890), but pushed on in Second Qualifying, with Dries Vanthoor the first to better the old class lap record (3:54.543). Will Stevens then sliced half a second off this by posting a 3:53.981 to lay claim to provisional class pole. In third and final qualifying the team completed race-preparation of the all-new car, and a succession of yellow flags prevented personal improvements for the JMW drivers. The car lined up 6th in GTE-Am for the race. Stevens drove the first stint, moving through to fourth in class. His co-drivers continued the advance, the team capturing third at 5:40 pm, and then second three hours into the race. Shortly after 10 pm, the #84 JMW Ferrari took the GTE-Am lead, and from there steadily built up an advantage that extended to over two laps at the finish. The car completed 333 laps and crossed the line 27th overall. Stevens set the fastest lap for the JMW Ferrari of 3:54.461.


ELMS and Blancpain (2017)

Stevens also in 2017 finished 2nd in the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup which included his first GT3 win at Zolder with team-mate Markus Winkelhock. Unfortunately he had a rather disappointing season in the
Blancpain Gt Series Endurance Cup The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports Gr ...
where his car retired in every race he competed in and he wasn't involved in the
24 hours of Spa The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their a ...
the blue riband event of the Blancpain GT Series.After their victory at the 24 hours of Le Mans JMW Motorsport invited Stevens to race in the last 2 races of the European Le Man Series in an attempt to come 1st in the GTE Series Team standings. This attempt was successful as Stevens helped the team come 2nd at Spa-Francorchamps and Algarve which elevated the team to 1st in the GTE standings.


ELMS (2018–present)

In March 2018 Stevens joined the Panis-Barthez LMP2 Team for the 2018 European Le Mans Series and to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.


McLaren F1 (2018–present)

Stevens has worked with
McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
since 2018 as a test and development driver, primarily carrying out simulator work. McLaren announced on 11 July 2022 that Stevens would drive the McLaren MCL35 2021 car at a private test to be held between 11 and 13 July at Portimao circuit.


Racing record


Career summary

As Stevens was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.


Complete Formula Renault UK results

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


Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) As Stevens was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.


Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series 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'' indicate fastest lap) Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.


Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results


Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results


Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results


Complete European Le Mans Series results

Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.


Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key)


Notes


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Will 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Rochford English racing drivers Portuguese Formula Renault 2.0 drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Toyota Racing Series drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers Caterham Formula One drivers Marussia Formula One drivers English Formula One drivers Carlin racing drivers European Le Mans Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers Manor Motorsport drivers MP Motorsport drivers Strakka Racing drivers W Racing Team drivers G-Drive Racing drivers Jota Sport drivers Wayne Taylor Racing drivers Karting World Championship drivers Audi Sport drivers P1 Motorsport drivers Starworks Motorsport drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers TF Sport drivers