Gary Paffett
Gary Paffett was born in Bromley, England, United Kingdom on March 24th, 1981 and is the Race Car Driver. At the age of 43, Gary Paffett biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 43 years old, Gary Paffett has this physical status:
After fifteen years in the series and two championship victories, Gary Paffett (born 24 March 1981 in Bromley) has joined Formula E for the 2018/19 championship, after it was announced in 2017 that Mercedes would no longer be competing in DTM.
Paffett was also a test pilot for the Williams Formula One team, having previously served in a similar capacity at McLaren for a number of years.
Paffett earned the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 1999, propelling him through the ranks of karting and junior formulae in the United Kingdom.
He now lives in Ousden, Suffolk, England.
Racing career
Paffett began competing in the British Cadet Championships in 1993 and gained a respectable third position. He went to the British Junior TKM Championship and placed second overall a year later. He won the British Junior TKM Championship and then second in the Junior ICA European Championship in 1995. They continued winning the McLaren Mercedes Karting Champion of the Future award and second in the British Junior ICA Championship in 1996. He progressed to single-seaters in the Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Series next year, winning the Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Series, winning the best newcomer's award in the process. He was Formula Vauxhall Junior Class B champion in 1998, with thirteen poles and thirteen wins, dominating every race of the season. He also set a new track record that had never before been set by any "B" class sedan. He was invited to the Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship and went on to win the competition with two track records, four victories, five fastest laps, and three pole positions. He was named the coveted McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year award at the end of the season.
He competed in the British F3 championship's Scholarship class, winning with twelve victories, thirteen fastest laps, and thirteen pole positions, rising to Formula Three. Keke Rosberg's race team finished sixth overall in 2001, bringing them to Germany F3 Championship racing. He dominated the field in 2002, winning the championship without ever losing the lead.
Gary Johnson joined the F3000 team in 2003, but the team was unable to drive, leaving Paffett and his colleague Nicolas Minassian without a car. Mercedes contacted him and asked him to drive in the DTM with Rosberg's Mercedes AMG team in a year-old car, eventually finishing 11th overall. He was runner-up in the AMG-Mercedes C-Class, up to date, with four victories and one pole position. He was then champion the following year, winning five games and four pole positions. Gary returned to the DTM in 2007 as part of the Persson Motorsport team's specification race car, as well as his McLaren F1 testing duties. Paffett became the first driver to win in a year-old car in the second round at Oschersleben. He was promoted to the new Mercedes model for 2009 and finished runner-up in the championship, behind Timo Scheider, after a year in older machinery.
Mercedes announced in 2017 that it would leave DTM after the 2018 season. Since the 2018 models were also affected by a rule change, the cars now had less downforce, meaning that little interaction would less likely result in race ending injury, Mercedes may have recovered from a slump in form over the past couple of years. The Mercedes was a strong contender in the first race at Hockenheim and allowed Gary Paffett his first victory since the Lausitz ring was in 2013 in the first race at Hockenheim. Gary Paffett and Timo Glock, the BMW driver, were crowned by the BMW driver in the second Hockenheim race. From here on, the Mercedes was a very good car all season, with three victories and seven podiums to go, and Paffett was or very near the top of the table all season. Paul Di Resta, a Mercedes driver, was his main competitor in the mid-season, with the championship switching between the two teams notably in Brands Hatch and Misano World Circuit. Paffett is having an unlucky raceweekend in the latter. René Rast and his Audi team gave Paffett a tough fight in the last three race weekends, winning in all six races. However, this wasn't quite enough, with Paffett winning the crown in Hockenheim at the end of the season and thus ending the book on DTM for Mercedes with the drivers title, team name, and company name, bringing Paffett and the Mercedes-AMG team the ultimate fairytale ending to their DTM careers.
He would not be returning to the DTM series to defend his title in December 2005, but rather than go full time for McLaren-Mercedes during the 2006 season alongside Pedro de la Rosa, Pedro de la Rosa. Following Kimi Räikkönen's departure to Ferrari, it was speculated that he may have been fighting for a 2007 race seat alongside World Champion Fernando Alonso. However, Lewis Hamilton, the GP2 champion, was largely unprepared for the ride.
Paffett was let go from his McLaren gig in October 2006 to pursue new opportunities. Christian Klien had been expected to sign as a test pilot at Honda but instead he was drafted. Paffett was re-signed by McLaren as the team's second test pilot a few weeks later, alongside de la Rosa.
He had stated explicitly that he was looking for a Formula One race seat for 2008 and was affiliated with the abortive Prodrive F1 project for that season. However, Prodrive was unable to make it to the track, so Paffett stayed with McLaren as a test driver. As a regular reserve driver Jules Bianchi was unable due to Formula Renault 3.5 Series testing commitments, Paffett was signed as Force India's reserve driver for the 2012 Australian Grand Prix. Paffett will leave McLaren at the end of the 2014 season, according to the newspaper on November 17, 2014. This coincided with McLaren's switch to Honda engines for 2015.
Paffett, a mechanical engineer, joined Williams as a simulator pilot in addition to his duties in DTM in 2016. "We're thrilled to have someone with Gary's expertise join us at Williams," team deputy Claire Williams said. He is a highly skilled racing steward, and his testing expertise and ability to analyze data will greatly contribute to the FW38's continuing development throughout the season.
Paffett, alongside Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne, competed for the HWA Racelab Formula E team in the 2018–19 Formula E season. Gary, who has spent his fifteen years in the German Touring Car Series, will be a part of this season's Formula E championship, marking both Gary's and the HWA team's debut in the 12-round all electric series. After scoring points in Hong Kong, Paris, and New York City, he finished 19th in the driver's standings. Paffett would be recalled by Nyck de Vries for the 2019-20 Formula E team, according to the team's announcement on September 11, 2019. Paffett began working as a sports and technical advisor, as well as a test and reserve pilot.