For the 2011 season Max will drive for Carlin in the Asian and Main Series of GP2. He rejoins the team that ran him in Formula 3 back in 2009, when he achieved victories and many podiums and pole positions before making the step up to GP2 last year.
Max will finish his teenage years during 2011, turning 20 years old in April and he is relishing the chance to work again with Carlin, despite this being the Aldershot based team’s first foray into the Formula 1 feeder series as he explains;
“I’ve always felt confident when I’ve been with them. They inspire success and I don’t see that being any different with the step up for them to GP2. It’s a new car for 2011 and that makes a more level playing field for all the teams. Carlin have an amazing record of achievement in all the Formulas they compete in and that’s down to the way the team works and the hard work they all put in. I’m really happy to be a part of that again.”
2010 was Max’s first season in GP2 and driving for the Portuguese based Ocean Racing Technology team he gained vital experience of the cars and tracks, many of them new to him, as well as the pressure of competing on the support package at the European Formula 1 Grand Prix. Max was the youngest driver on the GP2 grid during 2010 and especially towards the end of the season, began to show the pace and competitiveness that he displayed in the junior formulas.
With a number of finishes just outside the top ten through the season, Max finally grabbed two points scoring finishes at the penultimate event at Monza before achieving his best qualifying performance in the final event of 2010 in Abu Dhabi.
“Things started to come together by the end of the year,” he commented, “I think the team eventually found a set-up that gave me the confidence I needed, but also I improved my technique and the experience had built up by then so I could do a better job. Monza was fantastic, coming through from the back of the grid to finish 8th and then racing in the top five, that was exciting and I would probably have done that again in Abu Dhabi if I hadn’t been knocked off early in the feature race. Going into this season I want to pick up where I left off and be scoring points regularly. Obviously I want to win races and I’ll be trying my best, but the most important thing for me this season is to be consistently competitive and build on what I’ve learnt.”
Competing in front of huge Grand Prix audiences at such a young age is a great achievement for Max and one that he has always aimed for. He started racing cars when he was just 14 years old and has always had to cope with the pressure of stepping up into higher categories at a tender age. In 2007 he became the youngest ever driver to race in the British Formula 3 Championship when he competed at Donington on the day of his 16th birthday. Three seasons followed in the class with increasingly competitive results. Many pole positions had Max labeled the qualifying ‘king’ and when he joined Carlin for the 2009 season he turned his obvious pace into race wins as well.
With the return to Carlin for this season it is hoped that those performances can be repeated as both Max and Carlin aim to establish themselves at the highest level outside of Formula 1.
