Oliver Turvey

Oliver Jonathan Turvey (born 1 April 1987) is a British professional racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula E, and is currently signed to DS Penske as a reserve driver and a sporting advisor. He was a notable kart racer, with two national titles, and was the 2006 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner. His career has been supported by the Racing Steps Foundation.

Career history

Karting Like many aspiring junior racing drivers, Penrith-born Turvey began his karting career at eight years old. After three seasons, he progressed to the British Cadet Championship in 1999, in which he was placed fifth overall, and was selected as a member of the English National team, which won that year's Inter-nation Championship. In 2000, Turvey graduated to the Junior Yamaha National Championship and won the title. After a season in Junior TKM, he moved on to the Junior Rotax class in 2002 and added that title to his collection.

Car racing Turvey made his formula single seater debut in the 2003 British Formula Renault Winter Series and spent the remainder of the season competing in Zip Formula, in which he was the highest-placed rookie. In 2004, he sidestepped into Formula BMW UK with Team SWR and achieved one race win. At the end of the season, he made a one-off Formula Three debut in the Promotion class of the Asian F3 Championship.

In the following season, Turvey stayed with Team SWR in Formula BMW, making eight appearances (each with two race starts) in the ten-round championship. Budgetary restrictions prevented him from entering more than seven rounds in 2006, but points scores in every race (including five wins) secured second place overall. At the Formula BMW World Final in Valencia, he was the highest-placed British finisher in sixth position. Turvey ended the year by beating five other finalists to win the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.

Although Turvey was expected to graduate to the British F3 Championship in 2007, he has instead opted for the opportunity of competing in continental Europe. He spent the season dovetailing a dual program in Italian Formula Renault and the Formula Renault Eurocup with the experienced Jenzer Motorsport organisation. In 2008, he was runner-up in the British Formula 3 Championship, behind teammate Jaime Alguersuari.

Turvey competed in the World Series by Renault for 2009, where he was once again paired with Alguersuari at Carlin. He won a single race and finished the championship as top rookie, in fourth position. He competed in the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season and took part in the 2010 GP2 Series season for the iSport International team.

With his Racing Steps Foundation backing having expired at the end of 2010, Turvey was unable to raise a budget for another GP2 season in 2011. However, he was drafted by Carlin—the team now competing in its first year of GP2—to replace Mikhail Aleshin for the third round of the championship in Monaco; Aleshin also struggling to find enough money for a full season. He finished in the points in his comeback race, but was subsequently penalised due to jumping the start. He was replaced for the following round by Álvaro Parente, and finished 25th in the championship. Prior to the start of the 2011 GP2 Series, Turvey drove in the 2011 GP2 Asia Series season for Ocean Racing Technology.

Aside from his GP2 drives, Turvey also competed in selected rounds of the 2011 Blancpain Endurance Series season for CRS Racing, competing alongside Andrew Kirkaldy and Alvaro Parente in a McLaren MP4-12C GT3.

Turvey joined Gary Paffett as a test driver for McLaren for the 2012 Formula One season.

In 2013, Turvey stepped up from GTs to Sports Prototypes by signing a deal with Jota Sport to race their LMP2 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan in the 2013 European Le Mans Series season and selected rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship, including the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans. Turvey qualified on pole position and won his first start in the car, at the opening rain-shortened ELMS round at Silverstone.

In February 2014, it was announced that Turvey would partner Fabien Giroix and John Martin in an LMP2 Oreca 03-Nissan run by Delta Motorsport and Millennium Racing for an assault on the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season. However the team's plans received a setback when they withdrew from the season-opening 6 Hours of Silverstone due to delays in receiving funding. They subsequently missed the second round of the WEC and the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans due to their financial problems. However, Turvey received a call up from the Jota squad to race at Le Mans when Jota and Audi reserve driver Marc Gené replaced Audi driver Loïc Duval when the latter was injured in a practice crash. Turvey subsequently shared the LMP2 class win alongside his teammates.

In January 2025, Turvey departed McLaren to join Williams as test and development driver.

Formula E

Turvey would make his Formula E debut for NEXTEV TCR at the 2015 London ePrix, partnering with Nelson Piquet Jr. He would finish ninth in both events. He and Piquet Jr. would be retained for the 2015–16 season, where he would place 14th in the final standings with 11 points alongside a best finish of sixth at Beijing. Turvey, now with a rebranded NEXTEV NIO for the 2016–17 season, would earn his first pole position in Formula E at Mexico City after Daniel Abt was penalised due to a tyre pressure infringement, but would ultimately retire from the race due to battery issues. He would finish 12th in the final points standings with 26 points. For the 2017–18 season, Turvey would partner with Luca Filippi in the once again rebranded NIO Formula E Team, where would earn his first podium in Mexico City with a second place finish. He would finish tenth in the standings with 46 points despite withdrawing from the New York ePrix due to suffering a hand injury during second practice. Turvey would then partner with Tom Dillmann for the 2018–19 season, where he would only score seven points throughout the course of the season with a best result of eighth at Santiago. In the following season, he would partner with Ma Qinghua at the beginning of the year and then with Daniel Abt for the final rounds at Berlin for NIO 333 FE Team, where he would 24th in the standings with no points. He would then partner with Tom Blomqvist for the 2020–21 season, finishing 23rd in the standings with thirteen points and a best result of sixth at Diriyah. Turvey would partner with former Formula 2 driver Dan Ticktum for the 2021–22 season, where he would only finish in the points once at Rome with a seventh place finish. He would finish 18th in the standings. Turvey would not be retained for the following season, and would join DS Penske as the team's reserve driver as well as sporting advisor.

Awards Dec. 2006 – McLaren Autosport BRDC Award 2008 – Sports Personality of the Year award at the 2008 Cumbria Sports Awards 2008 – Daily Mirror Best British Driver in F3 Award 2008 – Awarded the Dunhill Future Champion Award at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2008 – University of Cambridge Extraordinary Full Blue for Motorsport (the first ever for the sport).

Education Turvey attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith, Cumbria in England and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge as an undergraduate, where he studied engineering. In late 2007, he applied to become a Cambridge Full Blue, the highest honour that can be awarded to a sportsman at the university. He completed his bachelor's degree in 2008 and was awarded the Full Blue by the university; the first ever racing driver to be awarded the accolade. His Master's will include a dissertation on F1 aerodynamics. He has a sister, called Lucie, who also attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. Turvey currently lives in London.

Racing career

Career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2003 Zip Formula Great Britain Unknown 4 0 - - - 118 4th Formula Renault UK Winter Series Mark Burdett Motorsport 4 0 0 0 0 6 18th 2004 Formula BMW UK SWR Omegaland 18 1 0 0 1 83 7th Team SWR Pioneer 2005 Formula BMW UK Team SWR Pioneer 16 0 1 2 6 103 8th 2006 Formula BMW UK Team Loctite 14 5 7 2 10 209 2nd 2007 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Jenzer Motorsport 13 0 0 0 1 51 8th Formula Renault 2.0 Italy 14 0 1 0 2 176 9th Porsche Carrera Cup GB Porsche Motorsport 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC† 2008 British Formula 3 International Series Carlin Motorsport 22 4 4 4 13 234 2nd 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Carlin Motorsport 17 1 1 0 5 93 4th Formula One Vodafone McLaren MercedesTest driver 2010 GP2 Series iSport International 20 0 1 1 4 48 6th Formula One Vodafone McLaren MercedesTest driver 2011 GP2 Series Carlin Motorsport 2 0 0 0 0 0 25th Formula One Vodafone McLaren MercedesTest driver 2012 Formula One Vodafone McLaren MercedesTest driver 2013 European Le Mans Series Jota Sport 5 1 4 1 3 71 3rd 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 7th FIA GT Series MRS GT Racing 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC† Formula One Vodafone McLaren MercedesTest driver 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 Jota Sport 1 1 0 0 1 N/A 1st Formula One McLaren MercedesTest driver 2014–15 Formula E NEXTEV TCR 2 0 0 0 0 2 22nd 2015 Super GT Drago Modulo Honda Racing 8 0 0 0 0 26 12th 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 Jota Sport 1 0 0 1 1 N/A 2nd Formula One McLaren HondaTest driver 2015–16 Formula E NEXTEV TCR 10 0 0 0 0 11 14th 2016 Super GT Drago Modulo Honda Racing 5 0 1 0 0 5 19th Formula One McLaren HondaTest driver 2016–17 Formula E NextEV 12 0 1 0 0 26 12th 2017 Formula One McLaren HondaTest driver 2017–18 Formula E Nio Formula E Team 10 0 0 0 1 46 10th 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans CEFC TRSM Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF Formula One McLaren F1 TeamTest driver 2018–19 Formula E Nio Formula E Team 13 0 0 0 0 7 20th FIA World Endurance Championship CEFC TRSM Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2019 Formula One McLaren F1 TeamTest driver 2019–20 Formula E Nio 333 FE Team 11 0 0 0 0 0 24th 2020 Formula One McLaren F1 TeamTest driver 2020–21 Formula E Nio 333 FE Team 15 0 0 0 0 13 23rd 2021 Formula One McLaren F1 TeamTest driver 2021–22 Formula E Nio 333 FE Team 16 0 0 0 0 6 18th 2022 Formula One McLaren F1 TeamTest driver 2022–23 Formula E DS PenskeReserve driver 2023 Formula One McLaren F1 TeamTest driver 2023–24 Formula E DS PenskeReserve driver 2024 Formula One McLaren F1 TeamTest driver 2024–25 Formula E DS PenskeReserve driver 2025 Formula One Atlassian Williams RacingTest & development driver 2026 Formula One Atlassian Williams F1 TeamTest & development driver † As Turvey was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. Season still in progress.

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos Pts 2009 Carlin Motorsport CATSPR CATFEA SPASPR SPAFEA MONFEA HUNSPR HUNFEA SILSPR SILFEA BUGSPR BUGFEA ALGSPR ALGFEA NÜRSPR NÜRFEA ALCSPR ALCFEA 4th 93

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 DC Points 2010 iSport International CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 6th 47 2011 CarlinISTFEAISTSPRCATFEACATSPR MONFEA MONSPRVALFEAVALSPRSILFEASILSPRNÜRFEANÜRSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRSPAFEASPASPRMNZFEAMNZSPR 25th 0

Complete GP2 Asia Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete European Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Super GT results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 2015 Drago Modulo Honda Racing Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA FUJ CHA FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 12th 26 2016 Drago Modulo Honda Racing Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA FUJ SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT MOT 19th 5

Complete Formula E results (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 14 15 16 Pos Points 2014–15 NEXTEV TCR Spark SRT01-e SRT01-e BEI PUT PDE BUE MIA LBH MCO BER MSC LDN LDN 22nd 4 2015–16 NEXTEV TCR Spark SRT01-e NEXTEV TCR FormulaE 001 BEI PUT PDE BUE MEX LBH PAR BER LDN LDN 14th 11 2016–17 NEXTEV NIO Spark SRT01-e NEXTEV FormulaE 002 HKG MRK BUE MEX MCO PAR BER BER NYC NYC MTL MTL 12th 26 2017–18 NIO Formula E Team Spark SRT01-e NextEV Nio Sport 003 HKG HKG MRK SCL MEX PDE RME PAR BER ZUR NYC NYC 10th 46 2018–19 NIO Formula E Team Spark SRT05e Nio Sport 004 ADR MRK SCL MEX HKG SYX RME PAR MCO BER BRN NYC NYC 20th 7 2019–20 Nio 333 FE Team Spark SRT05e Nio FE-005 DIR DIR SCL MEX MRK BER BER BER BER BER BER 24th 0 2020–21 Nio 333 FE Team Spark SRT05e NIO 333 001 DIR DIR RME RME VLC VLC MCO PUE PUE NYC NYC LDN LDN BER BER 23rd 13 2021–22 Nio 333 FE Team Spark SRT05e NIO 333 001 DRH DRH MEX RME RME MCO BER BER JAK MRK NYC NYC LDN LDN SEO SEO 18th 6 † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance. Season still in progress.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rank Points 2018–19 CEFC TRSM Racing LMP1 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 Mecachrome V634P1 3.4 L Turbo V6 SPA LMS SIL FUJ SHA SEB SPA LMS NC 0