Photography courtesy of Chadwick Racing
Jamie Chadwick is a British racing driver who began her career in karting before progressing through the Ginetta Junior Championship, British GT and British F3. A W Series champion and development driver for Williams Formula 1 at the time of this 2020 interview, Chadwick spoke with Autostrada about the transition from hobby to profession and her pursuit of the single-seater dream. Since this conversation was first published, she has gone on to secure two additional W Series championships, compete in Indy NXT and transition into endurance racing including participation in the European Le Mans Series.
Most athletes are passionate but few find a way to transform said passion into a profession. It’s a painful journey requiring drive, determination, luck and, usually, a catalyst – some event or person that prompts their soon to be destiny to blossom. For Jamie Chadwick, that catalyst was her brother entering the sport of karting.
“I think I got lucky that my brother ‘guinea pigged’ the sport for the family,” says Chadwick, speaking from her flat London, U.K.. “I fell into motorsport by accident. I think I was 12 years old when I first had a go in a kart and from then onwards it’s ignited a passion.”
Karting would turn out to be a brief endeavor for the young racer – a crash course, so to speak. After two years of karting, Chadwick quickly transition to cars in the Ginetta Jr Championship, a single make series for young drivers. “You can drive in the Ginetta Jr Championship when you’re 14, which is quite unusual,” she says. “For me it was exciting, because to make the jump from karts to cars at such a young age was really cool, and being able to race on big circuits at that age is quite unheard of.
Ginetta amazingly puts on a scholarship, which gives the winning driver a fully funded seat in the Championship. Motorsport isn’t an easy hobby to have, so it was a no brainer, but I entered with no expectations. I managed to win the Championship and it’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had racing. It taught me a huge amount.”
Chadwick’s victory in her maiden year did not go unnoticed by others.
“At the time I was racing Ginetta Jr I had a driver coach, Johnny Adam, who was a factory driver for Aston Martin,” she says. “Off the back of Johnny coaching me, an opportunity came about with Aston Martin to do sports car racing in the British GT Championship. It was a little bit of a no-brainer to get involved in that; it meant I would be in their young driver program, receive the support from a manufacturer like Aston Martin and also race in the British Championship,” says Chadwick. “What we were driving before as kids, in Ginetta, we’d take off front nose cones every other race, but as soon as you got in the Aston you couldn’t get away with that.”
At 16 years of age, she was by far the youngest competitor in the championship.
Up until this point Chadwick was simply having fun in her sport. “I’d never really thought up until that part in my life that motorsport was a career,” she says. “It was always a hobby, one I wanted to do full time, but I was always realistic. I didn’t think Formula 1 was necessarily an option, at least in the early days. It wasn’t until later in my journey that I kept getting asked about F1.”
With a newfound focus, Chadwick made the switch to open-wheel racing. “There was a British F3 Championship that looked like a viable option to do, so I looked around and found some backing and support to do it,” she says. “I think for most drivers they would go single seater to sports car, but for me it made sense to pursue the single-seater dream and ultimately see how far I could get there. From a driving standpoint it was quite a big jump and I really had to level up to make sure I was maximizing the opportunity I had. It was also really exciting because I found myself in a position that not many other female drivers have ever been in, racing at that level in single seaters. So suddenly, there was this opportunity in being a bit of a pioneer and chasing a dream that not many people have chased.
I remember I won a British F3 race and there was quite a bit of press and noise I couldn’t really understand. In the grand scheme of things, that level of racing isn’t the highest level in the world, but as you know it is a male-dominated sport. I think it’s just a case that there are so few women in our sport, especially competing in single seaters, so we need more and more pushing to the high levels to show it’s possible”. Fortunately for Chadwick, and many other young female drivers, this gap was noticed by the community.
2018 saw the launch of W Series, a fully funded single make F3 series for young women looking to break into open-wheel racing. “I’d heard rumours and at the time I was happy with what I was doing, capable of racing with the men at the level I was at, so there wasn’t much interest. However, right before it launched I got a call and heard more about what they had to offer. When I heard W Series was fully funded, with prize money, and I’d have the chance to help us all in our future ambitions it seemed like a no-brainer to get involved. That acted as a huge springboard in my career thus far…I’d say I’m a perfect case study for someone that it’s worked so well for.”
Chadwick’s efforts were paying off and continued to be noticed, most notably by the Williams F1 Young Drivers Program. “When I joined Williams, Claire was at the helm and that was really inspiring because she’s someone I’ve looked up to for a long time,” she says. “To be associated with an F1 team and be able to get that access and insight of where I ultimately want to be is in itself a dream come true.”
And it wasn’t just Williams F1 that’d taken notice of Chadwick’s potential. “I was racing in Asian F3 and David Dicker [when] the founder of Rodin Cars watched a couple of my races and wanted some support on a project he was working on,” she says. Rodin Cars is an outfit in New Zealand producing the ultimate single seater vehicle outside of F1, the Rodin FZED, and has another project on the horizon that aims to outperform modern F1 cars.
“David wanted a driver to come out to New Zealand for some development work and it was a no-brainer,” she says. “I made a trip to New Zealand and their setup is quite incredible. At their private test track they’ve got an F3 car, a Senna GTR and an old GP2 car. Their Rodin FZED was by far the quickest. It’s super impressive and certainly gives you that wow factor, which is exactly what they need to satisfy that type of customer”.
For Chadwick, it seems the hobby-turned-passion has certainly become a profession. At 22 years old, she is a competitive pro, works as a development driver for Rodin Cars and has the support of Williams F1 – not a bad CV for someone who fell into motorsport by accident.