Maximilian Alexander Chilton (born 21 April 1991) is a British former racing driver who competed in Formula One from to , and the IndyCar Series from 2016 to 2021.
Born and raised in Redhill, Surrey, Chilton is the younger brother of racing driver Tom Chilton. He competed in the GP2 Series from 2010 to 2012, finishing fourth in the latter with Carlin. Chilton competed in Formula One for Marussia from to . After Formula One, Chilton competed in the IndyCar Series from 2016 to 2021 for Chip Ganassi and Carlin. He holds the hillclimb record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, set in 2022 in the McMurtry Spéirling.
Early life Chilton was born in Redhill and grew up in Reigate. His father, Grahame Chilton, is a businessman who co-owned the insurance company Benfield Group until 2008, when it was taken over by Aon plc for £738m. Chilton became vice-chairman of Aon after the deal and also collected around £77m for his stake. Chilton was educated at Ardingly College from 2000 to 2008. His brother, Tom Chilton, is also a racing driver.
Career
Karting Chilton started his racing career at the age of ten in karts where he spent two 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 fourteen. Throughout this period, Chilton was racing in the Super 1 National Kart Championships.
T Cars
Chilton 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 sixteen to take part in the season opener having sought special dispensation on the eve of his sixteenth birthday. His best result was eleventh, in Bucharest and at Brands Hatch. He made one appearance in the Star Mazda Championship, at Laguna Seca – 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 of Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené.
For 2008, Chilton moved to David Hayle's Hitech Racing, and improved to tenth place in the championship. He recorded pole positions at Monza and Rockingham, and scored two podiums – second in the opening race at Oulton Park and third at Rockingham. He moved to Carlin Motorsport 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 in Portimão, and the second in his final Formula Three race at Brands Hatch.
GP2 Series Chilton graduated to the GP2 Asia Series for the 2009–10 season, driving for Barwa Addax. From there Chilton moved to Ocean Racing Technology for the 2010 GP2 Series season championship with the highest place finish of fifth.
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, he finished 22nd in the Asia series and 20th in the main series. He remained with the team, now with backing from the Marussia Formula One 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, 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 team in the Young Driver test at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit. This was his second time driving Formula One machinery following a straight-line aerodynamic test for the team earlier in the year.
Marussia (2012–2014) Chilton was appointed Marussia F1's testing and reserve driver for the second half of the 2012 season, starting from the Japanese Grand Prix. Chilton competed in the first practice session at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November for Marussia F1.
In December 2012, Nikolai Fomenko, the engineering director of Marussia F1, announced that Chilton would race for the team full-time in 2013. The team confirmed the next day that Chilton would race. Chilton qualified twentieth 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 fourteenth place following several retirements. He achieved his best qualifying result of sixteenth 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.
On 11 January, it was announced that Marussia F1 would be retaining Chilton for the season. Chilton achieved his best finish to date at the , finishing thirteenth. 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, nineteen of them in his rookie season. This was a record for most classified finishes in a rookie season. Lewis Hamilton 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 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 efforts, planning to move on to a full IndyCar Series 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 to compete in the IndyCar Series.
In the 2017 Indianapolis 500, 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 Carlin Motorsport 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. Conor Daly would run the remainder of the oval races for the 2019 season for Carlin Motorsport.
In February 2022, Chilton announced his retirement from IndyCar racing, in order to concentrate on other ventures, including the Le Mans Endurance Race.
World Endurance Championship
Nissan (2015) Chilton joined Nissan Motorsports to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2015. Chilton ran the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the team, retiring after 234 laps due to a suspension failure.
Racing record
Career summary Season Series Team name Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2005 T Cars ? ? ? ? 7 ? 8th T Cars Autumn Trophy 7 0 0 0 4 106 3rd 2006 T Cars Tomax 20 7 7 ? 14 167 2nd 2007 British Formula 3 Championship Arena Motorsport 20 0 0 0 0 0 18th 2008 British Formula 3 Championship Hitech Racing 22 0 2 1 2 72 10th 2009 British Formula 3 Championship Carlin Motorsport 20 1 4 2 5 171 4th Formula Renault 3.5 Series Comtec Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 40th 2010 GP2 Series Ocean Racing Technology 20 0 0 0 0 3 25th 2011 GP2 Series Carlin 18 0 0 0 0 4 20th GP2 Final 2 0 0 0 0 0 23rd Formula One Sahara Force India F1 TeamTest driver 2012 GP2 Series Carlin 24 2 2 0 4 169 4th Formula One Marussia F1 TeamTest/Reserve driver 2013 Formula One Marussia F1 Team 19 0 0 0 0 0 23rd 2014 Formula One Marussia F1 Team 16 0 0 0 0 0 21st 2015 Indy Lights Carlin Motorsport 13 1 3 2 6 258 5th FIA World Endurance Championship Nissan Motorsports 1 0 0 0 0 0 34th 2016 IndyCar Series Chip Ganassi Racing 16 0 0 1 0 267 19th 2017 IndyCar Series Chip Ganassi Racing 17 0 0 0 0 396 11th 2018 IndyCar Series Carlin 17 0 0 0 0 223 19th 2019 IndyCar Series Carlin 12 0 0 0 0 184 22nd 2020 IndyCar Series Carlin 9 0 0 0 0 147 22nd 2021 IndyCar Series Carlin 12 0 0 0 0 135 25th2022Goodwood Festival of Speed11N/AN/A1N/A 1st
Complete British Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points Ref 2007 Arena International Motorsport Dallara F307 Mercedes OUL1 OUL2 DON1 DON2 BUC1 BUC2 SNE1 SNE2 MNZ1 MNZ2 BRH1 BRH2 SPA1 SPA2 SIL1 SIL2 THR1 THR2 CRO1 CRO2 ROC1 ROC2 18th 0 2008 Hitech Racing Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA OUL1 OUL2 CRO1 CRO2 MNZ1 MNZ2 ROC1 ROC2 SNE1 SNE2 THR1 THR2 BRH1 BRH2 SPA1 SPA2 SIL1 SIL2 BUC1 BUC2 DON1 DON2 10th 72 2009 Carlin Motorsport Dallara F309 Volkswagen OUL1 OUL2 SIL11 SIL12 ROC1 ROC2 HOC1 HOC2 SNE1 SNE2 DON1 DON2 SPA1 SPA2 SIL21 SIL22 ALG1 ALG2 BRH1 BRH2 4th 171
Complete GP2 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points 2010 Ocean Racing Technology CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 24th 3 2011 Carlin ISTFEA ISTSPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR NÜRFEA NÜRSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR 20th 4 2012 Carlin SEPFEA SEPSPR BHR1FEA BHR1SPR BHR2FEA BHR2SPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR MRNFEA MRNSPR 4th 169
Complete GP2 Asia Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 2009–10 Barwa Addax Team YMC1FEA YMC1SPR BHR1FEA BHR1SPR BHR2FEA BHR2SPR 18th 2 Ocean Racing Technology YMC2FEA YMC2SPR 2011 Carlin YMCFEA YMCSPR IMOFEA IMOSPR 22nd 0
Complete GP2 Final results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 DC Points 2011 Carlin YMCFEA YMCSPR 23rd 0
Complete Formula One results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicates fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 WDC Points Marussia F1 Team Marussia MR01 Cosworth CA2012 2.4 V8 AUS MAL CHN BHR ESP MON CAN EUR GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN KOR IND ABU USA BRA – – Marussia F1 Team Marussia MR02 Cosworth CA2013 2.4 V8 AUS MAL CHN BHR ESP MON CAN GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN KOR JPN IND ABU USA BRA 23rd 0 Marussia F1 Team Marussia MR03 Ferrari 059/3 1.6 V6 t AUS MAL BHR CHN ESP MON CAN AUT GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN RUS USA BRA ABU 21st 0
American open-wheel racing results
Indy Lights Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rank Points Ref 2015 Carlin Motorsport STP STP LBH ALA ALA IMS IMS INDY TOR TOR MIL IOW MOH MOH LAG LAG 5th 258
IndyCar Series (key)