The Late Braking F1 Podcast - F1 Rising Stars: Jamie Chadwick

Episode Date: April 30, 2019

We had the opportunity to speak to Jamie Chadwick, featuring topics such as why she got into racing, how it felt to win in F3, and what the W Series holds for her in 2019 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Hello and welcome to a brand new series here at Late Breaking. This is F1 Rising Stars. To provide some context, the intention of this series is to speak to some of the brightest upcoming talent in motorsports, going into depth about how they started racing, their career progress up until now and what their ambitions are for the future. For episode one of the series, we were lucky enough to speak to Jamie Chadwick. At 20 years of age, Jamie has already.

been a champion of multiple series and is set to compete in the inaugural year of the W series. Jamie's passion for racing is evident, as is her maturity beyond her years, but I'll let you find out for yourself. However, and wherever you might be watching, enjoy. So, Jamie, thank you very much for doing this interview with us. I'm going to start at the very beginning. How did you get into motorsport exactly? What was it that inspired you to start carting. A famous question I always get asked. How did you get into it?

So yeah, firstly, thank you for having me on. Yeah, so I fell into road sport really by accident, to feel honest. It's a bit of a weird sport to sort of come across, I guess, if you've not got family members in the sport, whether that be your parents or whoever else. And yeah, for me, it was very much. I was into all sorts of other sports at the time. And it was literally my brother went go-karting when we must have been. So I was about 11.

and he would have been 13 at a friend's birthday party quite quickly caught the bug and yeah I sort of went off to watch him and had a first go in the go-cart and yeah one thing led to another started picking up some trophies and yeah I guess caught the bug very quickly like I said yeah um when do you think it became clear to you that you had a real talent for this and that it could be something of a career rather than just a hobby yeah I think initially it very much was a hobby and something I did because I enjoyed it. And I started picking up some trophies, but it really was just something I was doing at the weekends for fun, really.

And I think we took a little bit of a shot at seeing what I could potentially do beyond go-carts, which was the Janetta Junior Scholarship, which we entered purely by chance, to be honest. My brother was racing in the championship at the time, but I really didn't expect necessarily to win it. and I went into it a little bit sort of open-minded and just to see how it went. And, yeah, came out as a winner of that, which then gave me a fully funded season in the Genetta Junior Championship.

And, yeah, I guess that's when I started to really realise that this could be a lot more serious than a potential career. Yeah, so, I mean, that leads on nicely. You get the Genetta Junior scholarship. But as I understand it, you had something of a fork in the road at that time. You had the opportunity to play hockey. right to trial for England on that.

Yeah, that's right. So, yeah, it was a bit we said it's a fork in the road. To be honest, the decision was quite easy for me to make at the time. But I was playing hockey a lot and it was a sport that before motorsport came along

was something that I really enjoyed Dern and was a potential career and yeah, I had, so at the time I was playing and sit for the west of England and there were the next level up with some England hockey trials where you went to a academy for a few days

and those few days pretty much exactly coincided with the days that the Genetta Junior Scholarship was on. And yeah, like I said, to me, it was a little bit weirdly of a no-brainer, which is bizarre because at the time, although I loved motorsport, it wasn't necessarily the be all an end all for me. And yeah, at the time,

I clearly sort of wanted to do the scholarship and chose that and you saw the opportunity that was available to me. And yeah, that was kind of a bit of a no-beautil. brainer, I guess, and yeah, went straight for the scholarship. Yeah, so you say the decision was a relatively easy one for you to make. Once you made that decision, was it just a case of full steam with motor sport and no looking back whatsoever? Or did it ever remain a part of a potential fallback or anything like that? Yeah, exactly. I think I continued to play hockey at school,

continue to do everything that I was doing. Sorry, normally as I was continuing with the motorsport, but it wasn't until, yeah, maybe the end of my first junior and netter juniors, I really started to specialise in motorsport and I don't know whether fallback's the right word, but I always thought it really helped my racing, me doing other sports and doing other stuff, whether that be hockey or squash or whatever it was I was doing. So, yeah, I don't know. fallback's the right word, but it was something I definitely did that I thought helped the racing. Yeah. So then you do get into the Genetka Junior Championship and you have your brother as a teammate for your first year. How exactly did that dynamic work? Did it actually, did it help having that

kind of a relationship with your first teammate in a single seat of competition? I don't know if helps the right word. It was certainly an interesting dynamic. And I think the thing is, is when I first sort of got into it, it was his second year in the championship, and it was, you know, obvious that I wasn't going to be challenging him for the championship title at that point. But, yeah, there were times in the year

where we were required to either work together or for whatever reason. I might have gone a bit quicker, and yeah, my poor parents were put through hell, I think, that year. So, yeah, I can't say the dynamic was always the best. But it was good because, obviously, I learned from him.

You always want a strong teammate. and that year I still say he threw the championship away. He should have won it that year. So, yeah, it was a good thing for me to learn from him, but also having to then go home and sit at family dinner with the person that your teammates with and rivals with could be quite difficult. Yeah, it must have been quite strange. I don't think there's too many instances of that in motorsport, really.

Was there a sense of being able to be honest with each other? I mean, you've obviously still got many years left ahead of you. in your career, but you have had a number of teammates so far. Were you just able to be so honest with them? And do you think that was something that helps you along? Yeah, I think I've always had a bit of a similar attitude with teammates, which is you shouldn't really have to hide anything. Yes, your teammate is technically one of your biggest rivals,

but also the person that can help you the most if you get it right. And, yeah, I've been quite lucky throughout my whole career. Some of the teammates I've had, obviously in GT racing you're working directly with your teammates so that's a different dynamic and I was really lucky with Roscombe when we did British GT but yeah since then in sort of all the single seater racing and stuff I've done being quite lucky with the teammates I've had I've had a couple of fallouts but nothing ever ever too bad and I think like I said it's important to try and have a close work in relationship with your teammates because you can fast track your learning and their learning and the team's learning so easy by doing that. Absolutely. So just reflecting on those two years that you spent in the championship as a whole, picked up a number of podiums in those two years.

Were you happy with how you were able to really start your single-seater career? Was that a good starting point for you? Yeah, I think in terms of my first year in, so do you mean, sorry, my first year in F3 or my first year in Genetta Junior's? in Janetta Juniors in in sort of 2013 and 2014 I mean I believe you you kind of picked up your performances slightly in the second of those two years but were you happy with those two years as a whole yeah as a whole I was definitely happy and the learning that I had throughout those years

the first year I was pretty happy with but the second year we picked up a few podiums but I was actually a little bit disappointed with how the year went as a whole I felt like that year we should have been capable of challenging for the championship and we finished well down the mid-packed. So I think from a driver's perspective, I can throw all sorts of excuses and all sorts of reasons as to why I felt like we didn't achieve what we should have achieved. But I think the reality was, is I wasn't necessarily ready for the level of competition at that stage.

We were fast enough in practice. We had the pace and the speed, but I'd done two years of karting. then one year of Janetta Juniors and then I was straight into that second year up against the likes of Landowners and I think there were quite a few good drivers in that year so yeah I mean I wasn't happy at the time I've been looking back at it now is probably one of the biggest learning experiences I've had in my career and yeah whilst we didn't pick up maybe many race wins or podiums as I would have liked I think even looking back at it now I can be pretty happy with some of the results we've got and I mean any disappointment from that year that you didn't get as many wins maybe as you wanted or didn't compete for the championship. You made up for that in the following year. I moved to the British GT Championship at GT4 level before getting into actually winning the series. It's slightly unconventional approach going up the ladder at that age. You see many would go from F4 to F3 and not many would delve into the British Gt

Championship. Do you think actually going down this path helped you? Yeah, it was a bit of an interesting choice and one at the time caused quite a lot of questions and now you look at the amount of Juneteer Junior drivers going off into GT racing, it's huge but at the time I didn't have the financial backing to go and do single-seaters or to do it on the level that I would have liked

to have done it on. There was a bit of backing that I could have had and an opportunity in sports cars and Esther Martin launched a young driver program and I was coached at the time by Johnny Adam who was a factory driver and had an in with, obviously, Beechdine, who was racing with at the time. And he said, come and test the GT4 car that had won the championship the year before and just see how you get on. And whilst it, a lot of people thought it was quite a big step up to go from Janetta Juniors to GT4,

actually Janetta Jr. has prepared me perfectly for it. And the first test went well, and it was quite clear that that was something that I felt like would have been a good step to make. and with the support that like I said I had from Astor Martin with the Young Driver Program and Beach Dean it was an obvious move for me whether I was aware that it could have been as successful as it was in terms of winning the championship at the time I wasn't sure I just felt like it was a sensible move to make and it was a step up and didn't break the bank if that makes sense. Yeah, how did it feel racing against many older and more experienced drivers?

in that championship because if you do go up, say, Formula 4, you're generally racing against people within the same year, maybe same two or three years as you. But there were plenty of drivers in the series who had been doing it for quite a long time. How did that feel? Yeah, I think it was weird. Again, I was unusually oblivious to it all.

I think I knew the speed that myself and Ross had and natural speed of Ross still to this day, says one of the fastest drivers I've come across on a single lap and yeah for us as teammates. I knew the speed we had and when you come out of Janetta Juniors I do feel like it preps you pretty well for whatever you're going to go into next and aside from maybe the lack of experience in those cars or the lack of years maybe that we had between us I was confident that we had the raw speed to make it happen. And whether, you know, a couple of mistakes in the longer races and the different

style of racing caught us out, I still felt like we had the raw pace to, you know, get the results on merit. Yeah. And you got the necessary results, win the championship. And at the same time become the youngest and the first woman to win the championship as well. What do these kind of records mean to you? Yeah, it's funny. I get asked this a lot

and actually the records don't really mean anything to me I think my outset, goal from the outset was to win the championship if I were to first female or the youngest it didn't make a difference at the time

you know I still wouldn't have made a difference as to whether I wanted to achieve it or not so it's a bonus it's maybe sometimes the icing on the cake but it really isn't other than a press release title anything that I sort of count as being an achievement, I see the achievement being the championship win, if that makes sense.

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So you move from that series, then you do go into Formula 3 in 2017. What was that transition like from going into, from the vantage, into that Formula 3 car? Yeah, that was actually quite a tough transition to make a little bit of a baptism of fire, for sure. I think I thought it'd be slightly more of a linear step over, and whilst I was under no illusions as to how tough series like British Chef three is. I felt like we could make a bit more of a linear crossover, but actually it really was a good step up.

The cars are quick, the downforce, the sort of experience level of some of the drivers in there. You're competing against guys with sort of fairly good budgeting, fairly good pedigrees in terms of their karting and what they're done before. So it is tough and the margins are so small that in my first year, a lot of it was just learning about that and playing catch-up, I guess. So it was a tough year, but I wouldn't say I would even regret it even slightly, I think,

the amount I learnt just in that year. And over the last two, three years, actually, in single-seaters has been huge and really have prepared me much better as a driver as a poll package. Yeah, and so you secure a top-10 finish in the championship that year. You move teams, but stay in the same championship last year, 2018, and then you end up winning your first race. at that level. How did it feel to win at a Formula 3 level? It's an incredible feeling. That really was something that we had worked so hard for.

And the win wasn't the win I wanted, but I think we would be biased and say this, but I really do feel like we deserved a win at some point that year. And we got a little bit unlucky at times. And we really had been working so hard towards it and the season was sort of drawing to a close that it felt like it was ever going to happen. And yeah, it came at the perfect time. And like I said, you know, it's being the goal from the outset, you always go and you try and want to win a race or win races and championships. And for us to achieve that at Brandtatch was, yeah, an awesome feeling. Yeah. So obviously, you win the race in the second of those seasons. But in terms of points,

your points tally was almost identical between the two years. Do you feel as if you made more progress in the second year than what those points actually show? Yeah, absolutely. I think, yeah, I look at results of the British three second season and I really don't feel they do us justice because as a team and as a whole, I feel like we made good progress. I think the second year was more competitive, to be honest,

particularly in the mid-pack. I remember, you know, in the first year, you could qualify. I would always be in and around the same sort of position even if I was having a good day or a bad day whereas the difference between me and having a good day or a bad day in the second season was the difference between me qualifying on pole

or me qualifying 12th and the margins really were that small and yeah I remember being a 10th and a half off and qualifying 6th or 7th at Silverstone and very similar at Spar so yeah I think like I said I don't think the results necessarily reflect that but yeah also the full reverse grid

I actually don't think helped us necessarily. So from an outsider's perspective, it looks like we didn't maybe make as much progress as I felt like we did. And that's a shame. But yeah, I think there's a championship. It's so competitive. I was really happy with myself in terms of the progress we did make internally. Yeah.

So then you go off to do MRF challenge in Asia and involved in quite a good title battle with Max DeFourney. Going into that last race weekend, you're a few points behind, but with five races on a weekend that there's so much, so many points to make up. What were your emotions heading into that final race weekend

of that championship? Did you feel any pressure at the prospect of winning that title? Yeah, I think one of the nice things for me getting to that weekend is I really had momentum on my side and the pressure wasn't on my shoulders nearly much as it was on Max's, I think. So, yeah, he had a lot of,

a much stronger first race weekend in Dubai and I had a much stronger second weekend in Bahrain. So momentum was on my side off the back of Bahrain. Obviously there was a points deficit that I had to make up, but that put the pressure on him. And yeah, I knew what I needed to do and what I needed to achieve and things fell my way really nicely in the end of that weekend. And yeah, I guess with the way that the Tramming Jets and the five races on the weekend, I knew anything could have happened to either of us, you know. So I didn't feel the pressure as such, but I knew that there was a huge opportunity on the cards. Yeah. So you take three of those final five races, and that gave you the title. And I guess that really showed you were able to

perform when it mattered most. And do you think this is something that bodes well for you when teams are maybe thinking of you as an option later in your career? Yeah, I really hope so. I think the MRF weekend was nice for me or season was nice for me because my whole career didn't really ever show money race wins and it showed me as being, I would say, quick enough on a day when I was driving well but maybe a little bit inconsistent and like you said, not always showing up when it mattered. And so I didn't feel like my career stats, even though with a GT championship really showcase what we could do. So yeah, I guess the MRF championship showed a bit of light on the fact that we were capable of winning races. We were capable of making account when it mattered and winning

championships, which is another big thing that's not so easy to do. And yeah, I'm hoping that gives us momentum also going into this year. Yeah, so, yeah, leading into this year, the W series, when did you decide to try and qualify? for the series and why did you think that was the best choice for you? Yeah, it's an interesting question actually because I wasn't so aware of it, to be honest, before it was announced. I know a lot of drivers had sort of an ear to the ground as to the fact it was going to be launched, but other than a few whispers here and there, I didn't actually know much about

it. So when it was launched, I think in my management, the guys came up to me and said, what are your thoughts on this? And I said it was a terrible idea. And then they said, no, let's have a conversation with them because it might not be a terrible idea. And I still adamant it was a terrible idea. And I actually had it fully explained to me and what it actually was. And I quite quickly retracted my statement and realized it was something that I wanted to get involved with.

And there and then I sort of was happy to sign a piece of paper to show my interests and show that I wanted to, you know, get involved in the selection process. Yeah. So you qualify for the evaluation stage. You head out to Austria for that. How do you find that process? Yeah, I really enjoyed it, actually. I went there with a really open mind. Didn't put any pressure on myself.

Just went out there to see what it was all about, to be honest. I knew it wasn't going to be anything I had done before, whether that be, you know, it wasn't going to be in an F3 car. If it wasn't going to be anything that I had done before, like I said. but it was so different and so sort of testing in the sense it was pretend of some of the days it was in snow, in road cars on slippery surfaces, doing all sorts of different tests, that it was all about trying to find natural talent, which I absolutely loved because it showed that it wasn't all about, you know, who had the most experience in single-seaters and who had the most experience in certain types of racing.

it was about trying to find the girls that had the most ability to progress in motorsport. And I kind of took it as an opportunity to do something I'd never done, which involved the cool things like drifting and car control and all sorts of different stuff. And yeah, I absolutely loved it. I think it was a great sort of three, four days from a success point of view and the fact I made it through. But mainly the amount I learned and the amount I enjoyed it really topped it all off to me. be honest. And yeah, like you say, you do make it through the process and you make the final cut for the

drivers to compete in the championship. Considering how many people applied and how many people went through the evaluation stage, how does it feel that you succeed in? You came out on top. Yeah, I mean, I was amazed at how many people there were, to be honest, that applied. I think I could have listed maybe four or five female racing drivers that I knew might have applied beforehand. So yeah, to rock up and meet 60 other girls, well, near enough 60 other girls was really cool. And I guess I think I was always, everything you do, you want to do well

and you want to be successful. But then part of me actually was also quite excited to see how many girls there were that were fast and capable. It was almost as if I was really happy to see that amount of success out there rather than people. in like, oh, I just want to go out and beat them all. So, yeah, I think to get through and to be now in the top 18 is really, really exciting. And I'm obviously, you know, hugely grateful for the opportunity. And now with the racing starting, it's when things get serious and competitive. But at the time, I was just actually really pleasantly surprised about how many talented females there were out there.

Yeah. I mean, the series itself has got a lot of attention. some positive, some negative as well. And from a few other female drivers in motorsport, the likes of Pippa Man, maybe not been such a fan and an advocate of the series. Why do you think that the series is a positive step rather than a negative one? I think the way I sit is it's a step. You can argue until the cows go home as to whether it's exactly the right thing to have done.

but at least it is something. And we're seeing far, far too many people talking about how they want to get more women in motorsport and it's a lot of talk, but this is actually a fully funded opportunity. We're seeing now 18 females racing in Formula 3 level or in Formula 3 cars, whereas before I could list maybe four or five girls

that were racing at that level, if that. So, yeah, I guess I see it as a step and something that is positive because it is something. And, yeah, it's a driver. it's a huge opportunity. And for me, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to be racing in single-seaters necessarily this year if it wasn't for the W-series. So I can see where people are coming from in terms of why they have their reservations and concerns. But really it is a huge opportunity and something I'm really grateful for.

And the series itself is a massive opportunity for you, obviously. But that's recently been enhanced even further with the news that is going to be on Channel 4. So you've got a big free-to-wear audience that you've got a big free-to-wear audience that you're, you will be racing in front of now. Does this just increase the opportunity for you to show the world what you can do? Yeah, exactly. That news that came out yesterday is hugely exciting for the W series and motorsport in general. I think motorsport is a great sport and unfortunately it's not always getting the viewing figures that it deserves and hopefully this kind of platform with Channel 4 and the amount of interest that has the potential to generate will show.

shine light to both motorsport but also women in motorsport and the W series as a whole. And yeah, we're the first race weekend coming up only next weekend. I think it's going to be definitely something everyone should be watching. Absolutely. Just to wrap things up, really, looking towards the future, you have recently been announced as an Aster Martin Junior driver. You obviously have that prior experience with Aston Martin. And where do you see that partnership going, that relationship going, that relationship.

between the two of you? Yeah, I think the really nice thing with Asa Martin is I've had an ongoing relationship with them for the last four years now, whether that be formalised with what we've got now as a factual role or just in the background. They've always been so, so supportive of everything I've done. And, yeah, I'll be daft if I can't see my future with them at some point. And I'd love to continue a long-term relationship with them because the guys there are great. they've really helped bring me on as a driver and I've got some exciting opportunities with them this year but hopefully going forwards and over the next few years that's only going to expand and I can continue to work with them

like I said on a more formal basis. Absolutely yeah. Well thank you so much for doing the interview with us. Some great answers from you and best of luck for the year ahead. No thank you. Once again many thanks to Jamie for being our first guest and we are intrigued to see what 2019 holds for We will attempt to make this series as regular as possible, but of course that does depend on the flow of guests. If you have enjoyed this episode, please let us know what you think about it and subscribe for further content. Until next time, keep breaking late. Cast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.