HIGHLIGHTS
With 149 races completed, I have competed in open-wheel racing from Formula Ford to Formula 2,
achieving 20 wins and 50 podium finishes.
My career has seen me race against notable drivers of my age including:
- F1 race winners Esteban Ocon & Carlos Sainz Jr.
- Multiple Indycar champion Alex Palou
- Formula E world champion Pascal Wehrlein
- Le Mans 24 winners Antonio Fuoco & Antonio Giovinazzi
- IMSA Champions Pipo Derani, Tom Blomqvist & many more
THE ENTIRE STORY
2001-2005: How did I end up behind the wheel?
I discovered racing at the age of 8, despite many attempts by family to get me into Golf, Tennis or indeed any other sport. As soon as my mom and I stumbled upon a kart track within the historic Brooklands Motor Circuit I had made up my mind. I wanted to be a racing driver competing at the highest levels. After months of begging, she finally took me to drive, and I was hooked.
From then on I spent every Sunday zooming around the track and trying to be the best of the local regulars.
In 2003, future Formula E & WEC driver Sam Bird visited Brooklands. After seeing me drive he encouraged my dad to buy me my own go-kart. Despite neither me or my dad having a clue on how to set up and run a go-kart competitively I won my second ever race and by 2004, I was vice-champion in the Honda Cadet rookie series. The following year, I finished 5th overall in the South East Regional “F6” Honda Cadet Series.
2006-2008: A rough transition
After my family moved to Portugal in 2006, I joined a local karting team, hoping to advance my karting career. However, the transition from the smaller Cadet karts to the bigger ones proved challenging for me. I struggled to adapt my driving style, and I never truly found my speed.
The aggressive driving style required to get the most out of the bigger karts was at odds with the smooth style I had taught myself for the cadets. This was not helped by the language barrier with my team and indeed my own teenage stubbornness.
The 2008 season was particularly disastrous. I competed in all six World Series Karting (WSK) races that year in the KF2 category but failed to make a single final.
With huge grids featuring the best karters in the world, you had to really be on top of your game and the pace in these karts didn’t come naturally to me.
I still managed to grab a second place at the Taca de Portugal but by then my confidence was shattered, and I ended my karting career at the end of the season.
2009: Rekindling the spark
In 2009 I finally attended an F1 race for the first time and it completely rekindled my desire to compete. The sheer speed and excitement of Formula 1, along with seeing familiar faces from my karting days doing well in the junior categories, convinced me I could be competitive. After meeting my dad’s requirements for school grades, I was given the green light to return to the track.
At sixteen years old, I began testing formula cars. Thanks to my extensive home use of the racing sim “Live For Speed”, I immediately felt at home in the cockpit. On my very first day I was matching the pace of European karting frontrunner and 3rd year driver Will Stevens in certain sectors. During this first test I had learned more about driving technique from the telemetry than I had in my entire eight years of karting!
Now I knew I was in the right place.
2010: My rookie season
After setting an unofficial lap record at Brands Hatch in testing, we decided to race a full season in the 2010 British Formula Ford Championship. This series was the perfect place to learn, the cars lacked downforce, forcing drivers to master fundamental mechanical grip and hone their wheel-to-wheel skills.
At a test in Oulton Park, I impressed reigning champions Jamun Racing enough for them to run an unplanned extra car for me.
In the end I finished the season 7th overall, with three podiums and the most fastest laps of anyone. It was a solid rookie year, but my eagerness often led me to overdrive the car.
Despite leading a few races, I never converted these opportunities into a win. This made me seek out ways to gain race experience which in turn led me to iRacing. I knew that if I could get more comfortable in race situations I could maximise my potential. iRacing, with its non-stop competitive sim racing, was the perfect place to do that.
2011: The lost championship
For the 2011 season, we decided to step up to the ADAC Formula Masters (German F4) with newcomers Motopark. It was a season of extreme highs and lows. I started strong, winning my first formula races in the very first weekend and consistently scoring wins and podiums throughout the year.
However, a series of mechanical failures plagued my season. A driveshaft broke on the starting line in Zolder, followed by a blown engine in Lausitzring. The subsequent replacement engine available was chronically down on power, leaving me with 0 points in all three races that weekend. Despite these setbacks, a comeback at the second-to-last round in Assen plus a few opponent disqualifications kept me in the title fight.
It all came down to the final race of the season. I made a strong start to take the lead and for 90% of the race everything was in place for me to win the championship. However, it was not to be, as four minutes from the end my alternator failed and my championship was over. This handed the title to my championship rival that year and future Formula E world champion Pascal Wehrlein.
Despite the devastating title loss, my performance had proved that I had the pace and racecraft to compete for championships, and beyond the pain of missing out on the championship I left the season with a renewed sense of optimism.
2012: Financial realities hit
My momentum was quickly stalled at the start of 2012 when we struggled to raise the additional €450,000 required to join a competitive Formula 3 team. This led to a season with startup F3 team, Ma-Con as teammate to second-year F3 driver, Tom Blomqvist. Watching my previous season’s competitors drive off into the distance and battle for wins, while we were struggling in the mid-pack, was a consistent low point of an incredibly frustrating season.
Despite the team’s struggles, we still managed a few great results. My personal highlight was a podium finish at the Norisring in a 28 car field.
However, at the end of the season, a test with front runners Prema Powerteam confirmed our suspicions: the average 7 tenth gap to the frontrunners was down to the car’s performance.
2013: Finding confidence amidst a season of setbacks
For 2013 we were ready to sign with the eventual championship winners, Prema, for the 2013 FIA F3 season, but the deal fell through. Instead, I returned to my F4 team Motopark for the German F3 series. This became the toughest year of my career. My testing pace was championship-winning, but once the first race began, my confidence in the car vanished.
For the whole season, I battled with unpredictable oversteer and understeer, and we couldn’t figure out why. I was often miles off the pace of my teammate Marvin Kirchhofer, who went on to win the championship easily. Nothing we tried on the driving or setup side made any difference and I finished a dejected 3rd in the final standings.
Despite many wins that year the only true highlight for me was replacing Raffaele Marciello at Prema for the prestigious Masters of Formula 3 race at Zandvoort. Despite my limited experience, I qualified fourth and secured a podium finish in a field of the best F3 drivers in the world, giving me a much-needed confidence boost in an otherwise difficult year.
2014: When my team’s reluctance cost me a real shot
In 2014, we finally secured a seat at a top team, Carlin, in the highly competitive GP3 series (now known as FIA F3). After a tough opening weekend, I bounced back with my first podium then win in Austria, making a title challenge feel possible.
However, I was consistently missing a couple of tenths a lap compared to my teammate & eventual champion Alex Lynn. This largely came down to a general reluctance from the team to take my feedback seriously.
The greatest manifestation of this was their refusal to adjust the brake pedal to my liking, insisting I use the same rock hard setup as their previous top drivers. In hindsight I should have been more assertive but instead I tried to adapt and for the whole season I struggled with the resulting lack of feel for the brakes.
Even so, I kept my nose clean and finished 5th overall with five podiums. We also won the team’s championship, making it a successful season despite my struggles.
2015: When everything finally clicked
For 2015, I switched to the Arden GP3 team, and everything finally clicked. They adjusted the brake feel to my preference on the first day, and it paid off immediately.
The competition was fierce, including future F1 race winner Esteban Ocon, 4x IndyCar champion Alex Palou, Le Mans winner Antonio Fuoco, factory McLaren driver Marvin Kirchhofer, and subject of the “Gran Turismo” movie Jann Mardenborough. In this field I scored the most points of anyone in the feature races that year, including back-to-back wins at Spa and Monza. In fact, I was the only driver to finish inside the top 4 in every single feature race that year.
However, my championship chances were halted by a string of bad luck in the reverse-grid sprint races, where I suffered three unavoidable DNFs in a row caused by desperate moves from midfielders.
Despite this my 2015 points total was the tenth highest scoring season in GP3 history. This would have been enough to be champion in 2012, & 2013 and top 3 in every other season. Ultimately, P4 in the standings did not reflect our performance that year and made it impossible to attract financial backing from F1 teams.
2016: F2 Debut
After the 2015 season, our racing budget was exhausted. We spoke with many teams, but despite two offers giving a roughly €1 million discount for a race seat, the F2 level still was far beyond financial reach. This was a gut punch for me as I felt deserving of at least a chance to continue my career after such a strong 2015 but the funding just wasn’t there.
However, a lucky break and a generous donation from a family friend opened the door for me to race in the final round of the GP2 Series in Abu Dhabi. Arden’s regular driver had not shown up, and I was available to take the seat.
This weekend was more of a test than a proper race. Nearly the entire field had a full season under their belts, whereas I was making my debut at this level. The Arden team was also struggling, sitting last in the team standings for the 2016 season.
The feature race did not go my way, as I struggled to get the carbon brakes warmed up for the start. However, I finished the sprint race in P14, ahead of the only other rookie in the field, Louis Deletraz. It was a small victory that gave me confidence for 2017.
But unfortunately, that was that. We had a few opportunities that came and went over the years, including drives in Super Formula, Japanese F3 & WEC, but none of them came to fruition and I have been on the sidelines until the present day.
How I satisfied my need for competition
After years of frustration with the financial side of real-life racing, I returned to sim racing in 2020.
I have always wanted to test myself against the best in the world. The opportunity to race against the world’s top drivers, free from the financial burden of competing in the real world was exactly the challenge I was looking for.
In June 2020, I began streaming my races on Twitch, sharing my real-life racing knowledge and passion for the sport.
I won the iRacing F3 Fixed setup championship in its inaugural season and in 2023 I became the first person to win a race in every road racing series on iRacing.
I currently have over 9,000 iRating, placing me 57th all-time globally and in the top 0.0002% of all iRacing members.
I’ve raced online against many current and future F1 drivers, including Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar, which has helped me hone my techniques and keep my skills sharp should a real-life opportunity materialise.
Most of all, I am proud of the community we’ve built, over 15,000 passionate fans of sim and real life racing tune in to chat & watch my weekly streams.
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