Gustav Malja

Gustav Malja
Malja receiving the Rydell Special Award for the 2012 season.
Nationality	Swedish
Born	(1995-11-04) 4 November 1995 (age 29) Malmö, Sweden
FIA Formula 2 Championship career
Debut season	2017
Car number	4
Former teams	Racing Engineering
Starts	22
Wins	0
Podiums	1
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	13th in 2017
Previous series
2015-16 2015 2015 2013–2014 2013–2014 2012 2011–2012	GP2 Series World Series Formula V8 3.5 FIA European F3 Championship Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC FR2.0 BARC Winter Series ADAC Formel Masters
Awards
2010, 2015 2011, 2012	Ronnie Peterson Memorial Award Rydell Special Award

Gustav Koch Malja^[1] (born 4 November 1995) is a former Swedish racing driver.

Career

Gustav Malja at the Red Bull Ring in 2018

Karting

Born in Malmö, Sweden, Malja began his karting career in Formula Micro in 2006, winning the Gunnar Nilsson Memorial trophy the following year.^[2] By 2009 he had progressed up to the KF3 category, where he won the Swedish Championship and Gothenburg Grand Prix.^[3] In his final year of karting in 2010, Malja finished 22nd in the European KF3 Championship and fifth in the Junior Monaco Kart Cup.^[4]

ADAC Formel Masters

In 2011, Malja graduated to single-seaters, racing in the ADAC Formel Masters championship in Germany, despite being just 15 years of age.^[5] Driving for Neuhauser Racing, he took a single podium position at Assen to finish thirteenth in the standings.^[6] He continued with the team for a second season in 2012, taking three race wins and a further thirteen podium places to finish runner–up to champion Marvin Kirchhöfer.^[7]

Formula Renault 2.0

For 2013, Malja stepped up to Formula Renault, racing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championships with Josef Kaufmann Racing.^[8] In the NEC championship, he contested eight races, taking podium places at the Nürburgring and Most to finish fifteenth in the standings.^[9] In the Eurocup he finished twentieth in the championship, taking a single points–position at Paul Ricard.^[10]

Malja remained with Josef Kaufmann Racing in both championships for a second season in 2014.^[11] He finished fifth in the NEC championship, taking race victories at Hockenheim^[12] and the Nürburgring^[13] and two further podium positions.^[14] In the Eurocup, he scored points on eight occasions to finish twelfth in the championship.^[15]

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Malja stepped up to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2015 and raced for British team Strakka Racing.^[16]

Formula Three

In May 2015, Malja took part in the Pau round of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship, racing for EuroInternational in the car originally intended for Marvin Kirchhöfer before he left the team prior to the start of the season.^[17] He retired from the opening race of the event before finishing 25th in the remaining two races.

GP2/Formula 2

Malja contested in the Spa round of the 2015 season with Trident and the final two rounds with Rapax. In 2016, Malja joined the GP2 series campaign full-time for Rapax, finished on the podium twice and finished thirteenth overall.

For the 2017 F2 season, Malja switched to Racing Engineering.^[18] He finished third in the Monaco sprint race.

Formula 1

Malja participated in the second 2017 Formula 1 in-season test at the Hungaroring during 1–2 August, following the Hungarian GP weekend. Malja drove a Sauber C36-Ferrari for the Sauber F1 Team during the first test day. He completed 108 laps. His best lap was 1.21.503, set during aerodynamic and mechanical development runs.^[19]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2011	ADAC Formel Masters	Neuhauser Racing	24	0	0	0	1	69	13th
2012	ADAC Formel Masters	Neuhauser Racing	23	3	1	9	16	307	2nd
	Formula Renault BARC Winter Series	MGR Motorsport	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2013	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	Josef Kaufmann Racing	14	0	0	0	0	4	20th
	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC		8	0	0	0	2	98	15th
2014	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC	Josef Kaufmann Racing	14	2	1	2	4	193	5th
	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0		14	0	0	0	0	49	12th
2015	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Strakka Racing	17	0	0	0	2	79	9th
	FIA Formula 3 European Championship	EuroInternational	3	0	0	0	0	0	42nd
	GP2 Series	Trident	2	0	0	0	0	1	25th
		Rapax	3	0	0	0	0
2016	GP2 Series	Rapax	22	0	0	0	2	53	13th
2017	FIA Formula 2 Championship	Racing Engineering	22	0	0	0	1	44	13th
	Formula One	Sauber F1 Team	Test driver
2018	Porsche Supercup	Team Project 1	10	0	0	0	0	26	14th
	Porsche Carrera Cup Germany	Team Deutsche Post by Project 1	14	0	0	0	1	82	11th
2019	Porsche Carrera Cup Germany	Förch Racing	16	0	0	0	0	50.5	14th

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.	Points
2015	Strakka Racing	ALC 1 10	ALC 2 20	MON 1 Ret	SPA 1 8	SPA 2 14	HUN 1 10	HUN 2 3	RBR 1 7	RBR 2 7	SIL 1 6	SIL 2 8	NÜR 1 8	NÜR 2 2	BUG 1 11	BUG 2 9	JER 1 11	JER 2 5	9th	79

Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	DC	Points
2015	EuroInternational	Mercedes	SIL 1	SIL 2	SIL 3	HOC 1	HOC 2	HOC 3	PAU 1 Ret	PAU 2 25	PAU 3 25	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	MNZ 3	SPA 1	SPA 2	SPA 3	NOR 1	NOR 2	NOR 3	RBR 1	RBR 2	RBR 3	ZAN 1	ZAN 2	ZAN 3	ALG 1	ALG 2	ALG 3	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NÜR 3	HOC 1	HOC 2	HOC 3	42nd	0

Complete GP2 Series/FIA Formula 2 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	21	22	DC	Points
2015	Trident	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	RBR FEA	RBR SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA 10	SPA SPR 18	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	SOC FEA	SOC SPR					25th	1
	Rapax																			BHR FEA 16	BHR SPR 13	YMC FEA 16	YMC SPR C
2016	Rapax	CAT FEA 9	CAT SPR 10	MON FEA 14	MON SPR 12	BAK FEA 10	BAK SPR Ret	RBR FEA 13	RBR SPR 16	SIL FEA 22	SIL SPR 19	HUN FEA 13	HUN SPR 14	HOC FEA 6	HOC SPR 8	SPA FEA 8	SPA SPR 2	MNZ FEA 3	MNZ SPR 7	SEP FEA 9	SEP SPR 5	YMC FEA Ret	YMC SPR 14	13th	53
2017	Racing Engineering	BHR FEA 18	BHR SPR 13	CAT FEA 7	CAT SPR 6	MON FEA 6	MON SPR 3	BAK FEA 11	BAK SPR 13	RBR FEA 12	RBR SPR 15	SIL FEA 14	SIL SPR 9	HUN FEA 13	HUN SPR NC	SPA FEA 4	SPA SPR 11	MNZ FEA 8	MNZ SPR 18	JER FEA 14	JER SPR 18	YMC FEA 11	YMC SPR 17	13th	44

Complete Porsche Supercup 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	DC	Points
2018	Team Project 1	CAT 15	MON 13	RBR 13	SIL 17	HOC 11	HUN 15	SPA 16	MNZ 26†	MEX 9	MEX 18	14th	26

^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

References

1. "Gustav Malja". hitta.se. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
2. "Gunnar Nilsson Memorial – Formula Micro 2007 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
3. "Gustav Malja". gustavmalja.com. Gustav Malja. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
4. "Monaco Kart Cup – KF3 2010 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
5. "Neuhauser Racing's fifth season". adac-formel-masters.de. ADAC Formel Masters. 28 February 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
6. "ADAC Formel Masters 2011 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
7. "ADAC Formel Masters 2012 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
8. "Gustav Malja signs with Josef Kaufmann Racing for Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup campaign". news.driverdb.com. Driver Database News. 19 December 2012. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
9. "Formula Renault 2.0 NEC 2013 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
10. "Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup 2013 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
11. Allen, Peter (12 February 2014). "Malja sticks with Josef Kaufmann for dual FR2.0 campaign". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
12. Gruz, David (14 June 2014). "Malja converts pole to victory in first Hockenheim race". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
13. Gruz, David (20 September 2014). "Malja wins NEC race two at the Nurburgring". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
14. "Formula Renault 2.0 NEC 2014 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
15. "Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup 2014 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
16. Allen, Peter (28 January 2015). "Gustav Malja joins Strakka for step up to Formula Renault 3.5". paddockscout.com. Paddock Scout. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
17. "FR3.5 racer Gustav Malja joins European F3 field for Pau". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
18. "Gustav Malja to join Racing Engineering in 2017". December 9, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
19. "Lens and Frame".

External links

• Official website
• Gustav Malja career summary at DriverDB.com
• Gustav Malja on Twitter