Hughes started his racing career in karting in 2010 at the age of sixteen,[1] finishing eleventh in the Junior Class of the Easykart UK Championship.[2] In 2011, he finished fifth in the Super 1 National Formula KGP Championship.[3] He stayed in the same championship for 2012, improving to fourth in the series standings,[4] whilst also winning the Easykart UK Championship in the Light category.
Local championships
Hughes made his single-seaters debut in 2012 at Silverstone in the Formula Renault BARC Championship with Antel Motorsport and contested in the Rockingham round of the Formula Renault BARC Winter Series.
For 2013, he decided to move in the newly created BRDC Formula 4 Championship, joining Lanan Racing to partner Daniel Headlam.[5] He took four wins with another six podiums to clinch the championship title, beating Seb Morris by 35 points.[6]
For 2015 he signed with Koiranen GP to contest full-time both in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Alps.[9] He was victorious only in the second race at Spa and had another four podiums, finishing sixth in the championship. Though in the Alps championship he was more successful, winning races at Spa, Monza and Misano and taking the lead of the championship before the final round. However, due to two finishes outside of the podium places in that final event Hughes lost out on the title to Jack Aitken by just five points. In a podcast with Dan Ticktum six years later, Hughes revealed that he had competed in the final round with a cracked chassis, which had cost him performance throughout the weekend.[10]
GP3 Series
Hughes graduated to the GP3 Series in 2016, joining newcomers DAMS.[11] He earned his first GP3 victory in the sprint race at Hockenheim.[12] At the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi, Hughes experienced a technical failure in qualifying and was forced to start from the pitlane in the feature race. Having climbed up to seventh by the end of race 1, the Brit won the second race of the weekend, which he later described as "one of [his] best [race] weekends".[13]
For 2017, Hughes made the switch from the GP3 Series to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, having competed in the final round of the 2016 season. He contested the season with the Hitech GP team.[16] He claimed his first and only win at the second race in Nürburgring and finished the season 5th in the driver's championship.[17]
Hughes continued in the third tier of single-seater racing, as the GP3 Series rebranded to become the FIA Formula 3 Championship. Hughes joined the new HWA Racelab outfit alongside Keyvan Andres and Bent Viscaal.[18] Hughes claimed his only win of the year in a fortuitous sprint race at the Red Bull Ring, as race leaders Robert Shwartzman and Marcus Armstrong collided on the final lap. Shwartzman crossed the line first, but was given a penalty for causing the collision, handing the win to Hughes.[19] Hughes claimed a double podium finish at the Hungaroring, finishing both races in third place.[20] Hughes scored 90 of his team's 100 points over the season, placing him seventh in the drivers' championship.
2020
Hughes was retained by HWA Racelab for the 2020 season and was joined by Ferrari junior Enzo Fittipaldi and Red Bull junior Jack Doohan.[21] Hughes experienced a poor start to the season, collecting only half a point from the first six races. He was on course for a top-two finish in the sprint race at the second Red Bull Ring round, but collided with Liam Lawson and suffered race-ending damage.[22] He took his first podium of the year in the feature race at the second Silverstone round, followed by his first Formula 3 feature race victory in Barcelona the following week. Hughes claimed his second win of the year at the Monza sprint race. He ended the season seventh in the championship for a second consecutive year, scoring 111.5 of his team's 138.5 points.
2021
Shortly prior to the final round of the 2020 championship, Hughes announced that he would leave the series at the end of the year, having spent five years racing at Formula 3 level.[23] However, in 2021, Hughes returned to the championship at the fourth round at the Hungaroring as a substitute driver, replacing the injured Kaylen Frederick at Carlin Buzz Racing.[24] He finished the races in 16th, 17th and 13th respectively.
On 22 September 2020 it was announced that Jake Hughes would step up to Formula 2, replacing Giuliano Alesi at the BWT HWA Racelab team for the 10th round at the Sochi Autodrom.[26] Hughes finished 12th on his feature race debut, but was eliminated from the sprint race after a first-lap collision with Guilherme Samaia.[27] Hughes was replaced by former FIA Formula 3 competitor Théo Pourchaire for the final two rounds in Bahrain.[28]
Before the fifth round of the 2021 season, held at Monza, Hughes was confirmed to once again be stepping in at HWA, this time due to an injury sustained by regular driver Jack Aitken at the 24 Hours of Spa.[29] In the first race, which was plagued by retirements from numerous other drivers, Hughes managed to finish twelfth, having started from the pit lane after stalling on the formation lap. He had to retire from the second race after a collision with his teammate Alessio Deledda. In the third race of the weekend Hughes finished 13th. The following round at Sochi, Hughes went on to score his first points in Formula 2, finishing fourth in the sprint race.[30] This also gave HWA their best ever race finish in the series to date.
After testing with new team Van Amersfoort Racing at the post-season test at Yas Marina, Hughes signed up with the team for the 2022 Formula 2 season, partnering Belgian Amaury Cordeel.[31] Having started his season off with points at Bahrain, Hughes finished third in the Jeddah sprint race but was later disqualified for a technical infringement.[32][33] Despite this disappointment, he would bounce back the following day, taking fourth place in the feature race. However, the following three rounds formed a points scoring drought, which was compounded by a crash during qualifying in Monaco and a subsequent stall at the start of the sprint race, which he began from pole. The Briton returned to the top ten in Baku, scoring a point on Sunday, before another tenth place at his home track of Silverstone. One week later in Austria, Hughes took a fifth place in a chaotic feature race, which would end up being his final points of the season, as Hughes would miss the French and Hungarian rounds after testing positive for COVID-19, being replaced by David Beckmann.[34] Due to growing Formula E commitments, Hughes left VAR fully before the round at Spa-Francorchamps.[35] He ended up 16th in the standings, outscoring teammate Cordeel, who had competed throughout the entire season.
After it was announced that the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, for which Hughes had been a simulator driver, would be taken over by the McLaren Formula E Team, the Briton left Formula 2 in pursuit of taking one of the seats for the upcoming season.[40] In November 2022, Hughes joined McLaren for the 2022–23 season, partnering René Rast.[41] The season started out strongly in Mexico City, as Hughes progressed to the semi-final stage in qualifying, ending up third on the grid[42] before finishing the race in fifth place, having been overtaken by André Lotterer on the final lap.[43] Following the conclusion to the race, Hughes branded the ePrix as the "hardest race [he'd] ever done".[44] At the first round of the Diriyah ePrix, Hughes qualified at second place (missing out on pole position by 0.060s)[45] but finished the race in eighth.[46] More qualifying success followed in the second round, as Hughes took his first pole position in the series, beating Mitch Evans in the final.[47][48] He ended the race in fifth position, having lost the lead to Evans at the start.[49] At the Hyderabad ePrix, Hughes suffered his first retirement of the season as a piece of debris got lodged in his steering wheel, prompting him to withdraw.[50]
A pair of tenth and eighth places followed at Cape Town and São Paulo,[51][52] before having a disastrous at the Berlin ePrix in which he failed to score points.[53] Hughes scored his second pole position at the Monaco ePrix after being promoted from second due to Nissan's Sacha Fenestraz being stripped of his pole position for exceeding his power limit in his final run.[54] He finished the race in fifth.[55] However, Hughes would only take two more tenth places throughout the rest of the season as the McLaren grew uncompetitive, and did not start the first race in Rome after a qualifying shunt.[56] He placed 12th in the standings with 48 points, eight ahead of teammate Rast.[57]
Hughes extended his stay with McLaren for the 2023–24 season and teamed with Sam Bird after René Rast's departure.[59][60] He started the season positively with a seventh place at the Mexico City ePrix.[61] After narrowly missing points during the first race in Diriyah, he bounced back in the second, taking his career best finish of fourth and revealed that he was "buzzing" after the race.[62]
At the end of July, McLaren announced that they did not retain Hughes for a third season and he departed the team.[63]
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