Jack Aitken

Jack Anthony Han-Aitken (Korean: 한세용, Han Se-yong; born 23 September 1995 in London) is a British-South Korean racing driver who currently competes for Action Express Racing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and for Emil Frey Racing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.

He was a former reserve driver for Williams Racing in Formula One, having previously been part of the Renault Sport Academy and Williams Driver Academy.

Born in London to a Scottish father and South Korean mother, Aitken began his career in karting at Buckmore Park, aged 7.

He made the transition to cars when he competed in the Intersteps Championship with Fortec Motorsport, with whom he then went on to race with in the Formula Renault BARC Winter Series, Formula Renault NEC and Formula Renault Eurocup.

He competed in the 2010 Super 1 National Kart Championships in the Rotax Mini Max class, finishing third behind champion and future Formula 2 teammate George Russell.

He finished 11th in the championship with 63 points, whilst Russell claimed the title with 287 points.

Aitken progressed into single-seater car racing in 2012, competing in the four races of the 2012 Formula Renault BARC Winter Series.

He won the final race at Rockingham Motor Speedway and finished second in the standings behind Fortec Motorsport teammate Seb Morris.

He also competed for Fortec in the 2012 Dunlop InterSteps Championship, taking two wins to finish third in the championship behind future GP3 Series competitor Matt Parry.

In 2013 Aitken competed in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, in a field which included future Formula One drivers Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon.

He finished second in the championship, again losing out to Fortec teammate Parry.

Aitken also appeared as a guest driver in three rounds of the main Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series, recording a best finish of ninth place at the Red Bull Ring.

Aitken entered his first full season of Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 in 2014 with Fortec.

He won one race at the Hungaroring and finished on the podium three further times to end the season seventh in the championship.

During the first half of the campaign, he had to finish his A-Level qualifications while attending Westminster School.

He also made guest appearances in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series, with best finishes of fourth place at the Imola Circuit.

Aitken made his first appearance in American open-wheel racing in 2014, competing in one round of the Pro Mazda Championship (now the Indy Pro 2000 Championship) at the Sonoma Raceway with a best finish of fourth place.

After winning the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2015, Aitken was signed up for the Renault young driver academy, with which he remained until 2019.

For 2015, Aitken moved to Koiranen GP in Formula Renault 2.0, contesting both the Eurocup and Alps series.

He won both titles at the final rounds at the Circuito de Jerez, one week apart.

He took nine race wins in total, finishing ahead of Louis Delétraz in the Eurocup and Jake Hughes in the Alps series.

In 2015 he took part in the Pro Mazda Winterfest for Team Pelfrey.

He won three of the five races to win the championship ahead of future IndyCar driver Dalton Kellett and future Williams Formula One teammate Nicholas Latifi.

After competing in the GP3 Series in 2016 and 2017 he progressed to Formula 2 for 2018.

In January 2016, Aitken stepped up to the GP3 Series with Arden International.

In his maiden season, he claimed a victory at Spa-Francorchamps and six additional podiums to finish fifth in the overall standings, one point behind teammate Jake Dennis.

In that year, Aitken also made brief appearances in the Euroformula Open and Formula V8 3.5 series, claiming two wins and two pole positions in four races in Euroformula Open and a pole position in Formula V8 3.5.

In February 2017, it was announced that Aitken would remain in the GP3 Series, switching to reigning team champions ART Grand Prix.

He took one race win at the Hungaroring and five further podium finishes, finishing second in the championship with 141 points, behind champion and former karting rival George Russell on 220 points.

In January 2018, ART Grand Prix announced Aitken would join their Formula 2 team for the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship, again partnering Russell.

He took his first podium finish with second place in the Baku feature race, and later took his first victory in the Barcelona sprint race.

For the 2019 season Aitken moved to Campos Racing, initially partnering Dorian Boccolacci and later Arjun Maini and Marino Sato.

Aitken took his first win of the season, and Campos Racing's first win in Formula 2, at the Baku feature race.

He also won his home sprint race at Silverstone, after overtaking Louis Delétraz on lap 17.

Aitken also won the Monza sprint race after defending from the MP Motorsport car of Jordan King.

King criticised Aitken's defensive driving as he claimed after the race that Aitken was weaving down the straight.

Aitken finished fifth in the standings, scoring 159 of Campos' 189 points and helping them to finish fifth in the teams' championship.

He was Williams F1's reserve driver from 2020 until announcing his exit from the team in January 2023, and raced for the team at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, replacing George Russell, who, in turn, replaced Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for the event.

Aitken started his karting career at Buckmore Park Kart Circuit in Kent.

Aitken remained at Campos for 2020, partnering Guilherme Samaia.