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Gary Paffett

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Gary Paffett
Paffett celebrating his 2018 Championship victory in the DTM.
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Born (1981-03-24) 24 March 1981 (age 43)
Bromley, Greater London, England
FIA Formula E career
Debut season2018–19
Racing licence FIA Platinum
Car number17
Former teamsHWA Racelab
Starts13
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums0
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Finished last season19th
Previous series
200318
200512
2003
2001–02
2000
1998
1998–99
1997
DTM
Formula One testing
International Formula 3000
German F3
British F3
FPA Winter Series
Formula Vauxhall Junior
FVauxhall Junior W. Series
Championship titles
2018
2005
2002
2000
1999
1998
1997
DTM
DTM
German F3
British F3 National Class
Formula Vauxhall Junior
FVauxhall Junior Class B
FVauxhall Junior W. Series
Awards
1999McLaren Autosport Award

Gary James Paffett (born 24 March 1981 in Bromley) is a British former racing driver. Having become a household name in the DTM, following fifteen years in the series and two championship wins, Paffett moved onto Formula E for the 2018/19 championship, after it was announced in 2017 that Mercedes would no longer be taking part in DTM. Paffett was also a test driver for the Williams Formula One team, having previously worked in a similar role at McLaren for a number of years, during the team's successful title winning years. Paffett progressed through the ranks of karting and junior formulae in the United Kingdom, winning the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 1999. He now lives in Ousden, Suffolk, England.

Racing career

[edit]

1993 to 1999: Early Years

[edit]

In 1993, Paffett joined the British Cadet Championships and earned himself a respectable third place. A year later he moved to British Junior TKM Championship and finished second overall. In 1995, he won the British Junior TKM Championship and also second place in the Junior ICA European Championship. Successes continued into 1996, winning the McLaren Mercedes Karting Champion of the Future award and also second in the British Junior ICA Championship. The next year he moved into single-seaters, winning the Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Series, picking up the best newcomer's award in that series in the process. In 1998, he was Formula Vauxhall Junior Class B Champion with thirteen poles and thirteen wins, dominating every race of the season. He also set a track record which had never before been set by any "B" class car. He got promoted to the Formula Vauxhall Junior and won the championship with two track records, four wins, five fastest laps, three pole positions. At the season's end he was awarded the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award.

Formula Three

[edit]

Moving up to Formula Three, he competed in the Scholarship class of the British F3 championship, becoming champion with twelve wins, thirteen fastest laps and thirteen pole positions. In 2001, moved overseas to the German F3 Championship racing with Keke Rosberg's race team, finishing sixth overall. Remaining in the series for 2002, he dominated the field winning the championship without ever losing the lead.

DTM

[edit]
Paffett won his third DTM race in succession, by winning the season-opener at Hockenheim in 2010.

For 2003, Gary signed to drive for the new Brand Motorsport team in F3000, but the team withdrew from the series leaving Paffett and his team-mate Nicolas Minassian without drives. Mercedes contacted him and signed him to drive in the DTM with Rosberg's Mercedes AMG team in a year-old car, eventually finishing 11th overall. A year later, he was runner up with an up-to-date AMG-Mercedes C-Class and the HWA team taking four wins and one pole position. He was then champion the following year with five wins and four pole positions. In 2007, Gary returned to the DTM in a 2006 specification race car for the Persson Motorsport team alongside his McLaren F1 testing duties. At the second round at Oschersleben, Paffett became the first driver in the history of the series to win in a year old car.[1] After a further year in older machinery, he was promoted back to the current Mercedes model for 2009, and finished runner-up in the championship, behind Timo Scheider.

Paffett competing in the 2014 DTM season.

2018 season

[edit]

In 2017, Mercedes announced it would leave DTM after the 2018 season. Since 2018 did also feature a rule change resulting in the cars having less downforce meaning that small contact would less likely result in race ending damage,[2] Mercedes could come back from a dip in form over the last couple of years. In the first race at Hockenheim the Mercedes proved a serious contender and allowed Gary Paffett to take his first win since the Lausitz ring in 2013 in the first race at Hockenheim. The second Hockenheim race featured a momentous battle between Gary Paffett and Timo Glock which was won by the BMW driver. From here on, the Mercedes proved a very good car all through the season and with taking 3 wins and further 7 podiums, Paffett was at or very near the top of the table all season. In the mid-season, his main competitor was fellow Mercedes driver Paul Di Resta with the lead of the championship changing a couple of times between the two notably in Brands Hatch and Misano World Circuit. With Paffett having an unlucky raceweekend in the latter. In the last 3 race weekends, René Rast and his Audi team gave Paffett a very real challenge taking a win in all 6 races. This didn't prove to be enough however with Paffett taking the crown in Hockenheim at the last race of the season and thus closing the book on DTM for Mercedes with the drivers title, team title and the manufacturers title, providing Paffett and the Mercedes-AMG team with the perfect fairytale ending to their DTM careers.

Formula One

[edit]
Paffett testing for McLaren at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in December 2008.

In December 2005 it was announced that he would not be returning to the DTM series to defend his title but instead would test full-time for McLaren-Mercedes during the 2006 season alongside Pedro de la Rosa. After the departure of Kimi Räikkönen to Ferrari, it was speculated that he may have been in contention for a 2007 race seat in the team alongside World Champion Fernando Alonso. However, due to the arrival of GP2 Champion, Lewis Hamilton, Paffett was overlooked for the drive.

Further to this, Paffett was released from his McLaren contract in October 2006, to search for better opportunities. It was widely speculated that he was likely to sign as a test driver at Honda, but Christian Klien was signed instead.[3] A few weeks later however, Paffett was re-signed by McLaren as the team's second test driver, alongside de la Rosa.[4]

Paffett testing a McLaren MP4-28 at Silverstone in July 2013

He publicly stated that he was looking for a Formula One race seat for 2008,[5] and was linked with the abortive Prodrive F1 project for that season. However, Prodrive failed to make it to the grid so Paffett stayed with McLaren as a test driver. Paffett was signed as Force India's reserve driver for the 2012 Australian Grand Prix as regular reserve driver Jules Bianchi was unavailable due to Formula Renault 3.5 Series testing commitments.[6] On 17 November 2014, it was announced that Paffett would leave McLaren at the end of the 2014 season. This coincided with McLaren's switch to Honda engines for 2015.[7]

Paffett driving a Williams FW33 on the streets of Madrid during an exhibition in 2016

For 2016, Paffett signed on with Williams as a simulator driver, alongside his duties in DTM. Team deputy Claire Williams said: "We're delighted to have someone with Gary's experience join us at Williams. He is a highly professional racing driver and his level of testing knowledge, and ability to analyse data, will significantly help to drive forward development of the FW38 throughout the season."[8]

Formula E

[edit]
Paffett at the 2019 Hong Kong ePrix

In the 2018–19 Formula E season, Paffett drove for the HWA Racelab Formula E team, together with the Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne. Marking a new adventure for Gary, following his fifteen legendary years in the German Touring Car Series, this season's Formula E championship, marked both Gary's and the HWA team's debut campaign in the 12-round all electric series. He finished the season 19th in the driver's standings after scoring points in Hong Kong, Paris and New York City. On 11 September 2019, it was announced that Paffett would be replaced by Nyck de Vries for the new Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team in the 2019–20 Formula E season.[9] Paffett moved into a management role within the team, working as a sporting and technical advisor, while also being a test and reserve driver.[10]

Racing record

[edit]

Complete German Formula Three results

[edit]

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

Year Team Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Pts
2001 Team Rosberg Opel HOC
1

2
HOC
2

Ret
NÜR
1

8
NÜR
2

10
OSC
1

1
OSC
2

Ret
SAC
1

22
SAC
2

Ret
NOR
1

4
NOR
2

3
HOC
1

Ret
HOC
2

Ret
LAU
1

5
LAU
2

8
NÜR
1

12
NÜR
2

15
A1R
1

4
A1R
2

4
HOC
1

2
HOC
2

2
6th 123
2002 Team Rosberg Opel HOC
1

1
HOC
2

16
NÜR
1

C
NÜR
2

C
SAC
1

1
SAC
2

EX
NOR
1

1
NOR
2

1
LAU
1

1
LAU
2

11
HOC
1

2
HOC
2

6
NÜR
1

7
NÜR
2

7
A1R
1

1
A1R
2

10
ZAN
1

Ret
ZAN
2

Ret
HOC
1

1
HOC
2

7
1st 83

Complete International Formula 3000 results

[edit]

(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 DC Points
2003 Brand Motorsport IMO
14
CAT A1R MON NÜR MAG SIL HOC HUN MNZ 29th 0
Sources:[11][12]

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

[edit]

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

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos. Pts
2003 Team Rosberg AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM HOC ADR NÜR
Ret
LAU
15
NOR
Ret
DON
9
NÜR
8
A1R
6
ZAN
12
HOC
18†
11th 4
2004 HWA Team AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2004 HOC
1
EST
13
ADR
4
LAU
DSQ
NOR
1
SHA
1
NÜR
1
OSC
4
ZAN
4
BRN
3
HOC
3
2nd 57
2005 HWA Team AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2005 HOC
2
LAU
1
SPA
8
BRN
4
OSC
1
NOR
1
NÜR
3
ZAN
1
LAU
2
IST
1
HOC
3
1st 84
2007 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2006 HOC
8
OSC
1
LAU
8
BRH
10
NOR
4
MUG
Ret
ZAN
9
NÜR
12
CAT
5
HOC
Ret
9th 20.5
2008 Persson Motorsport AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2007 HOC
7
OSC
11
MUG
12
LAU
10
NOR
DSQ
ZAN
11
NÜR
4
BRH
8
CAT
11
BUG
4
HOC
11
9th 13
2009 HWA Team AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009 HOC
Ret
LAU
1
NOR
5
ZAN
1
OSC
5
NÜR
8
BRH
4
CAT
4
DIJ
1
HOC
1
2nd 59
2010 HWA Team AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009 HOC
1
VAL
7
LAU
5
NOR
6
NÜR
3
ZAN
1
BRH
5
OSC
4
HOC
4
ADR
2
SHA
1
2nd 67
2011 HWA Team AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009 HOC
6
ZAN
9
SPL
8
LAU
4
NOR
Ret
NÜR
8
BRH
4
OSC
4
VAL
8
HOC
5
7th 25
2012 HWA Team AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse Coupé HOC
1
LAU
2
BRH
1
SPL
3
NOR
4
NÜR
6
ZAN
7
OSC
2
VAL
Ret
HOC
2
2nd 145
2013 HWA Team AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse Coupé HOC
4
BRH
6
SPL
9
LAU
1
NOR
18†
MSC
5
NÜR
17
OSC
6
ZAN
9
HOC
9
6th 69
2014 HWA Team DTM AMG Mercedes C-Coupé HOC
12
OSC
8
HUN
Ret
NOR
12
MSC
16
SPL
17
NÜR
16
LAU
13
ZAN
19†
HOC
10
22nd 5
2015 ART Grand Prix DTM AMG Mercedes C-Coupé HOC
1

Ret
HOC
2

3
LAU
1

23
LAU
2

Ret
NOR
1

3
NOR
2

7
ZAN
1

11
ZAN
2

10
SPL
1

7
SPL
2

2
MSC
1

7
MSC
2

6
OSC
1

Ret
OSC
2

13
NÜR
1

4
NÜR
2

Ret
HOC
1

Ret
HOC
2

9
9th 89
2016 Mercedes-Benz DTM Team ART Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM HOC
1

11
HOC
2

4
SPL
1

18
SPL
2

13
LAU
1

14
LAU
2

5
NOR
1

14
NOR
2

DSQ
ZAN
1

4
ZAN
2

2
MSC
1

3
MSC
2

18
NÜR
1

19
NÜR
2

7
HUN
1

20
HUN
2

16
HOC
1

19
HOC
2

15
11th 73
2017 Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes Me Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM HOC
1

7
HOC
2

2
LAU
1

6
LAU
2

4
HUN
1

7
HUN
2

9
NOR
1

10
NOR
2

Ret
MSC
1

7
MSC
2

16
ZAN
1

8
ZAN
2

5
NÜR
1

10
NÜR
2

14
SPL
1

17
SPL
2

4
HOC
1

9
HOC
2

4
10th 102
2018 Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Petronas Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM HOC
1

1
HOC
2

3
LAU
1

9
LAU
2

1
HUN
1

6
HUN
2

15
NOR
1

2
NOR
2

13
ZAN
1

1
ZAN
2

2
BRH
1

6
BRH
2

2
MIS
1

Ret
MIS
2

14
NÜR
1

3
NÜR
2

5
SPL
1

10
SPL
2

3
HOC
1

4
HOC
2

3
1st 255
Sources:[11][12][13]

– Driver did not finish, but completed 90% of the race distance.
– Shanghai was a non-championship round.

Complete Formula E results

[edit]

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

Year Team Chassis Powertrain 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos Points
2018–19 HWA Racelab Spark SRT05e Venturi VFE05 ADR
Ret
MRK
Ret
SCL
14
MEX
16
HKG
8
SYX
Ret
RME
Ret
PAR
8
MCO
12
BER
16
BRN
17
NYC
11
NYC
10
19th 9
Sources:[11][12]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "The 10 Mercedes-Benz drivers". Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. 29 March 2007. Archived from the original on 6 September 2009.
  2. ^ "DTM 2018: THE CHANGES FOR THE SEASON". DTM.com. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Klien gets the Honda test job". Grandprix.com. 15 November 2006.
  4. ^ "Lewis Hamilton joins Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes". mclaren.com. 24 November 2006. Archived from the original on 11 December 2006.
  5. ^ "F1 in the news". itv.com/f1. 8 December 2006. Archived from the original on 22 April 2007.
  6. ^ "Gary Paffett steps in as Sahara Force India's reserve driver this week". ForceIndiaF1.com. Force India. 15 March 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2012.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "McLaren F1 team parts company with test driver Gary Paffett". Autosport.com. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  8. ^ "F1 news: Gary Paffett joins Williams Formula 1 team for simulator role". autosport.com. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  9. ^ "Mercedes signs Vandoorne, de Vries for debut FE season". us.motorsport.com. 11 September 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  10. ^ Boxall-Legge, Jake; Kalinauckas, Alex (6 November 2019). "Mercedes Formula E team explains Gary Paffett's management role". Autosport.com. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  11. ^ a b c "Gary Paffett Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  12. ^ a b c "Gary Paffett". Motor Sport. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  13. ^ "Gary Paffett race results". TouringCars.net. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
[edit]
Sporting positions
Preceded by German Formula Three Champion
2002
Succeeded by
Preceded by Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
Champion

2005
Succeeded by
Preceded by Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
Champion

2018
Succeeded by
Awards
Preceded by McLaren Autosport BRDC Award
1999
Succeeded by