| Olli Caldwell | |
| Nationality: |  British |
| Birth Date: | 2002 6, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Winchester, United Kingdom |
| Racing Licence: | FIA Gold |
| Current Series: | European Le Mans Series |
| First Year: | 2023 |
| Former Teams: | Inter Europol Competition |
| Car Number: | 25 |
| Starts: | 9 (9 entries) |
| Wins: | 0 |
| Podiums: | 2 |
| Poles: | 0 |
| Fastest Laps: | 1 |
| Best Finish: | 7th (LMP2) |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Prev Series: | FIA WEC - LMP2 FIA Formula 2 Championship FIA Formula 3 Championship FR European Championship Formula 4 UAE Championship Italian F4 Championship ADAC Formula 4 F4 British Championship Ginetta Junior Championship |
| Prev Series Years: | 2021, 2023 2021-2022 2020–2021 2019 2017–18 2017–18 2017–18 2017 2016 |
Oliver "Olli" Caldwell (born 11 June 2002) is a British racing driver who currently competes in the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Series with Algarve Pro Racing.
He is a race winner in the FIA Formula 3, Formula Regional European, Italian F4 and ADAC Formula 4 championships, won the 2018 Gulf 12 Hours in the GT4 category, and was formerly part of the Alpine Academy.[1]
Caldwell was born in Hampshire and began karting in 2013 at the age of eleven.[2] Having raced in karts for four seasons, Caldwell finished third in the 2016 edition of the Rotax Euro Challenge and took part in the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in the same year, representing Great Britain at the latter competition.[3]
In 2016, Caldwell progressed into car racing, driving for JHR Developments in the second half of the Ginetta Junior Championship.[4] Having scored a rookie podium on his debut, the Brit would finish all but two of his thirteen races in the top ten, ending up 19th in the overall standings.[5]
Having taken part in multiple tests of the F4 British Championship in the first half of 2017,[6] [7] Caldwell made his single-seater debut at the Croft Circuit with Arden,[8] which, as he had missed the opening third of the campaign due to age requirements, made him the youngest ever participant in a British F4 race at the age of 15.[9] He competed in the series for the remainder of that year, finishing 14th with a highest race finish of seventh.[10]
That same year, Caldwell made his debut in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship, driving for ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. in two weekends.
In 2018 he made the full-time switch to Prema where he finished in seventh on 125 points, scoring four podiums, with one of them being his only win of the season at Oschersleben.[11] [12]
Mücke Motorsport was the team Caldwell made his Italian F4 debut for in 2017. In the fifteen races he competed in he recorded ten points, with a highest placing of sixth in the final race at Monza helping him to 11th in the standings.
In 2018 Caldwell switched to the Italian outfit Prema Powerteam, partnering Enzo Fittipaldi and Gianluca Petecof for the entire season. A disappointing opening weekend, was cancelled out by two podiums, a pole position and a race win in France.[13] [14] Three podiums from the Monza races put Caldwell into the championship hunt, though the following two rounds only yielded one podium finish. However, a dominant weekend at Vallelunga, where the Brit scored all three victories after qualifying on pole for every race, gave him a fighting chance for the season finale at Mugello.[15] [16] There, two podiums would not be enough to claim the title, as Caldwell finished third in the standings.[17]
Caldwell competed in the F4 UAE Championship for Silberpfeil Energy Dubai in preparation for his 2018 season. He would only race in the first two rounds, winning three races and ending up seventh in the championship.[18] [19]
In 2019, Caldwell remained with Prema, progressing to FREC alongside Enzo Fittipaldi and Frederik Vesti.[20] [21] Having started his season with a fourth-placed finish in race 1 of Le Castellet, the Brit took a lights-to-flag victory in race 2, although he was later disqualified for a technical infringement on his car.[22] [23] At the following round in Vallelunga the Briton scored a podium in the second race, before ending up on the rostrum in all three races at the Hungaroring.[24] [25] In Austria, a charging drive during race 2 was stopped due to a faulty gearbox, costing him his "best chance of a win".[26]
Caldwell bounced back in Imola, where, despite a crash in race 3, he would score two second places in the opening two races of the weekend and win in race 4, which was held as a re-run of the cancelled third race at Vallelunga.[27] As this had been the weekend during which F2 driver Anthoine Hubert had been killed at Spa, Caldwell decided to dedicate his victory to the late Frenchman.[28] In Barcelona, Caldwell was fighting for a podium position in race 1 until being forced into the gravel by Fittipaldi.[29] At the next round in Mugello, Caldwell experienced his worst weekend of the season, scoring a mere three points and getting his first and only non-points finish of the season.[30] He ended his campaign with three top-eight finishes at Monza, as Caldwell finished fifth in the championship.[31]
At the end of 2019, Caldwell raced at the 2019 Macau Grand Prix with Trident.[32] He qualified 17th before being caught up in an incident during the qualifying race, which dropped him to 23rd ahead of the main race. At the start of the race Caldwell made contact with Andreas Estner, which later caused him to retire due with front wing and tyre damage.[33]
In January Caldwell was announced by Trident as one of their three drivers for the 2020 Formula 3 season, partnering the experienced pairing of David Beckmann and Lirim Zendeli.[34] The Brit had a successful start to the year, finishing in the top six in both races at the second round at Spielberg. Unfortunately, Caldwell then had to endure four successive rounds without any points, a run that included him being spun out in the feature race at Silverstone. Caldwell managed to break that streak by finishing seventh in the Barcelona feature race. His final points of the year came at the penultimate round in Monza, and he ended up 16th in the drivers' standings.
Caldwell was announced to be racing for Prema Racing in the 2021 season, partnering Arthur Leclerc and Dennis Hauger.[35] He won the second race of the season in Barcelona, after inheriting the race lead when the leading pair of Hauger and Matteo Nannini collided on the penultimate lap. Caldwell held off a charging Victor Martins on the final lap to take his first F3 victory.[36] [37] After scoring points in France, the Brit returned to the podium at Spielberg, where he finished second in race one and third in race three, where he made his way past five cars on the way to the rostrum.[38] Caldwell's next podium finish occurred at the next race in Budapest, with him being promoted to second place after initial race winner Lorenzo Colombo received a five-second penalty.[39] [40] A collision with Oliver Rasmussen in race 2 scuppered his hopes of scoring points, although he came back to eighth place in the feature race.[41] However, a disappointing weekend at Spa where the whole team qualified outside the top 12, a broken DRS in qualifying at Zandvoort and the decision to choose a wet-weather setup in Sochi, where the races were held in dry conditions despite the predicted rain, meant that Caldwell failed to score a podium in the final rounds.[42] Caldwell ended his campaign eighth in the drivers' standings, two places ahead of teammate Leclerc.
In November 2021 Caldwell announced that he would be joining Campos Racing to partner Ralph Boschung in the final two rounds of the FIA Formula 2 Championship.[43] After the final round, where he set a fastest lap in the first sprint race following a late stop after a racing incident with Jake Hughes,[44] Caldwell took part in the post-season test with the Spanish team.[45]
Caldwell stepped up to Formula 2 full-time for the 2022 season, remaining with Campos and still having Boschung as his teammate.[46] [47] The season began with an engine issue in the sprint race at Bahrain, a race that was followed up by a penalty-strewn Sunday, where Caldwell collected a total of seven penalty points for being out of position on the formation lap and exceeding the track limits at turn 4 several times. The subsequent six rounds did not yield points, though Caldwell outqualified Boschung for the first time at his home track at Silverstone. At the Red Bull Ring however, Caldwell would get up to eleventh by the end of the race after starting last, which eventually became sixth after penalties ahead of him had been handed out.[48] In the qualifying session at the Hungaroring, Caldwell managed to qualify 13th and finished tenth in the sprint race, but retired from the feature race after running out of fuel.[49] Near the race's end, he also committed a track limits infringement, earning him a twelfth penalty point and excluding him from the round at Spa.[50] Caldwell later apologised to his team.[51]
On his return at Zandvoort, Caldwell outqualified teammate Boschung, but retired from the sprint race with brake issues. In the feature race, he took advantage of a pileup at the Safety car restart to finish ninth, having held off attacks from Jehan Daruvala, and was elevated to eighth following a penalty ahead.[52] [53] [54] The next round at Monza would bring two retirements due to respective lap 1 collisions, before Caldwell retired at Abu Dhabi with a mechanical issue.[55] Caldwell ended up finishing 21st in the standings with 12 points to his name.[56]
In February 2022, the Alpine F1 Team announced that Caldwell would be joining the team's academy, alongside former F3 rivals Jack Doohan, Victor Martins and Caio Collet.[57] On the 14 June it was confirmed that Caldwell would drive the team's 2021 car, the Alpine A521, at his home track in Silverstone in a test, taking over from Alpine reserve driver Oscar Piastri the following day.[58] He completed a total of 485.7 kilometres of running throughout the day.[59] [60] In November of the same year Caldwell tested the car once again, completing more than 100 laps around the Bahrain International Circuit.[61] [62] [63] [64] At the start of 2023, it was announced that Caldwell had graduated from the Alpine Academy.[65]
At the end of 2018 Caldwell made his GT racing debut in the Gulf 12 Hours,[66] where, having taken the Race 1 win by leading after 6 Hours of the race, he took victory in the GT4 category, driving a Mercedes for Bullitt Racing alongside Ian Loggie and Oleg Kharuk.[67] [68] [69]
In early 2020 it was confirmed that the Brit would drive alongside Marvin Kirchhöfer and Luca Ghiotto in the Bathurst 12 Hour race for R-Motorsport. However, the trio was forced to miss the race as a crash from Kirchhöfer in the second part of qualifying broke the Vantage AMR GT3 car, which forced the team to withdraw from the event.[70] Despite the premature withdrawal, Caldwell described the event as "an amazing experience".[71]
On 3 November 2021 it was announced that Caldwell would be making his debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship, driving alongside Miro Konôpka and Nelson Panciatici for the ARC Bratislava team in the 8 Hours of Bahrain.[72] The trio finished the race eleventh in the LMP2 category.
The following year, Caldwell competed in the series' rookie test at Bahrain in November, driving the Richard Mille Racing Team LMP2 car during the afternoon session.[73] He ended up setting the second-fastest time of all rookies in the category.[74]
For the 2023 season, Caldwell moved into the WEC, partnering André Negrão and Memo Rojas for the Alpine Elf Team in the LMP2 class.[75] [76] [77] In addition, he signed a factory contract with the brand.[78] The campaign began disappointingly at Sebring, where Caldwell was forced to retire after five hours due to an electrical issue.[79] He experienced a more positive race at Portimão, as the Briton overtook Oliver Rasmussen during his first stint. The team eventually finished eleventh.[80] [81] Caldwell would be handed qualifying duties at Spa, where he managed to place himself ahead of Charles Milesi in the sister car, before contributing to take eighth on a damp track on Saturday.[82] [83] Summing up the season until that point, Caldwell admitted that the campaign had proven to be "difficult", as Alpine were still trying to catch up with the frontrunners.[84]
The 24 Hours of Le Mans saw the #35 cycle towards the front during the first few hours owing to a fortuitous pit strategy just before Caldwell entered the car. Having defended fourth against Ben Barnicoat for a number of laps, Caldwell took third place during his second stint as a result of an accident ahead, and held the spot until leaving the car at midnight. Laps later, with Rojas in the car, the #35 collided with the #66 JMW and #7 Toyota, forcing the team to repair the car and serve a penalty, losing them several laps. The team finished the race ninth in the LMP2 class.[85] Monza saw Caldwell once again outqualify Milesi, though a mistimed safety car period would relegate the car to eighth.[86] The team scored one further points-scoring result in the final two races on their way to 11th in the teams' standings.
During the same year, the Briton also raced in the European Le Mans Series with Inter Europol Competition alongside Jonathan Aberdein and Rui Andrade.[87] [88] The team retired due to a gearbox issue at the season-opener, however they would bounce back at Le Castellet.[89] Caldwell qualified fourth and - in spite of a drive-through penalty caused by contact from Andrade and an emergency fuel stop under safety car conditions - helped his team to score a podium finish in the LMP2 Pro class.[90] [91] [92] At Aragón, Caldwell qualified third, though the team's podium chances were squashed due to contact with the Ferrari of Johnny Laursen.[93] Despite fighting for the podium at Spa, the team once again went scoreless thanks to a late crash caused by Aberdein.[94] At the finale in Portimão, Caldwell qualified a season-best second for Friday's race, though the team fell back early and eventually ended up sixth after a driving time penalty, though they bounced back to finish fourth on Sunday.[95] [96] [97]
Moving away from Alpine, Caldwell joined reigning ELMS champions Algarve Pro Racing for his second season in the ELMS, partnering Matthias Kaiser and title winner Alex Lynn.[98] At the season-opener in Barcelona, the Briton charged into the lead during his stint, using traffic to pass Ritomo Miyata, before a quicker pit stop ended up dropping APR back to second, the position in which they eventually finished.[99] In Le Castellet, Caldwell set the fastest lap of all Pro class entries, finishing seventh.[100] The Brit and Kaiser would be joined by Roman De Angelis for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as Alex Lynn attended to his Hypercar duties with Cadillac.[101]
As of 2022, Caldwell lives in Oxford alongside Formula One reserve driver and Mercedes Junior Frederik Vesti.[102]
| Season | Series | Team | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Super 1 National Championship — IAME Cadet | Eclipse Motorsport | NC | |
| Super 1 National Championship — Comer Cadet | 9th | |||
| 2014 | Super 1 National Championship — Rotax Mini Max | 22nd | ||
| 2015 | Rotax Max Wintercup — Rotax Max Junior | KR Sport | NC | |
| Super 1 National Championship — Rotax Mini Max | 21st | |||
| Rotax Max Euro Challenge — Junior | 33rd | |||
| 2016 | Rotax Max Wintercup — Rotax Max Junior | KR Sport | 30th | |
| Rotax International Open — Junior | 9th | |||
| BNL International Karting Series — Junior | 17th | |||
| Rotax Euro Challenge — Rotax Max Junior | 3rd | |||
| Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals — Junior | 8th | |||
| Sources:[103] [104] | ||||
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(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 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | Pos | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | nowrap | Mücke Motorsport | MIS 1 | MIS 2 | MIS 3 | ADR 1 | ADR 2 | ADR 3 | VLL 1 | VLL 2 | VLL 3 | MUG1 1 | MUG1 2 | MUG1 3 | IMO 1 | IMO 2 | IMO 3 | MUG2 1 | MUG2 2 | MUG2 3 | MNZ 1 | MNZ 2 | MNZ 3 | 11th | 15 | |
| 2018 | nowrap | Prema Theodore Racing | ADR 1 | ADR 2 | ADR 3 | LEC 1 | LEC 2 | LEC 3 | MNZ 1 | MNZ 2 | MNZ 3 | MIS 1 | MIS 2 | MIS 3 | IMO 1 | IMO 2 | IMO 3 | VLL 1 | VLL 2 | VLL 3 | MUG 1 | MUG 2 | MUG 3 | 3rd |
(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 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | Pos | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | nowrap | ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. | OSC1 1 | OSC1 2 | OSC1 3 | LAU 1 | LAU 2 | LAU 3 | RBR 1 | RBR 2 | RBR 3 | OSC2 1 | OSC2 2 | OSC2 3 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | NÜR 3 | SAC 1 | SAC 2 | SAC 3 | HOC 1 | HOC 2 | HOC 3 | NC† | 0 | |
| 2018 | nowrap | Prema Theodore Racing | OSC 1 | OSC 2 | OSC 3 | HOC1 1 | HOC1 2 | HOC1 3 | LAU 1 | LAU 2 | LAU 3 | RBR 1 | RBR 2 | RBR 3 | HOC2 1 | HOC2 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | NÜR 3 | HOC3 1 | HOC3 2 | HOC3 3 | 7th | 125 |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | DC | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | nowrap | Trident | RBR FEA | RBR SPR | RBR FEA | RBR SPR | HUN FEA | HUN SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | SPA FEA | SPA SPR | MNZ FEA | MNZ SPR | MUG FEA | MUG SPR | 16th | 18 | ||||
| 2021 | nowrap | Prema Racing | CAT 1 | CAT 2 | CAT 3 | LEC 1 | LEC 2 | LEC 3 | RBR 1 | RBR 2 | RBR 3 | HUN 1 | HUN 2 | HUN 3 | SPA 1 | SPA 2 | SPA 3 | ZAN 1 | ZAN 2 | ZAN 3 | SOC 1 | SOC 2 | SOC 3 | 8th | 93 |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)
| Year | Entrant | 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 | DC | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nowrap | Campos Racing | BHR SP1 | BHR SP2 | BHR FEA | MCO SP1 | MCO SP2 | MCO FEA | BAK SP1 | BAK SP2 | BAK FEA | SIL SP1 | SIL SP2 | SIL FEA | MNZ SP1 | MNZ SP2 | MNZ FEA | SOC SP1 | SOC SP2 | SOC FEA | JED SP1 | JED SP2 | JED FEA | YMC SP1 | YMC SP2 | YMC FEA | 26th | 0 | ||||||
| 2022 | nowrap | Campos Racing | BHR SPR | BHR FEA | JED SPR | JED FEA | IMO SPR | IMO FEA | CAT SPR | CAT FEA | MCO SPR | MCO FEA | BAK SPR | BAK FEA | SIL SPR | SIL FEA | RBR SPR | RBR FEA | LEC SPR | LEC FEA | HUN SPR | HUN FEA | SPA SPR | SPA FEA | ZAN SPR | ZAN FEA | MNZ SPR | MNZ FEA | YMC SPR | YMC FEA | 21st | 12 |
(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 | Rank | Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | nowrap | ARC Bratislava | LMP2 | nowrap | Oreca 07 | nowrap | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | SPA | ALG | MNZ | LMS | BHR | BHR | 31st | 1 | ||
| 2023 | nowrap | Alpine Elf Team | LMP2 | nowrap | Oreca 07 | nowrap | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | SEB | ALG | SPA | LMS | MNZ | FUJ | BHR | 18th | 23 |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Rank | Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | nowrap | Inter Europol Competition | LMP2 | nowrap | Oreca 07 | nowrap | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | CAT | LEC | ARA | SPA | POR | ALG | 7th | 33 | |
| 2024 | nowrap | Algarve Pro Racing | LMP2 | nowrap | Oreca 07 | nowrap | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | CAT | LEC | IMO | SPA | MUG | ALG | 5th* | 28* |
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 |  Alpine Elf Team |  André Negrão Memo Rojas | Oreca 07-Gibson | LMP2 | 323 | 19th | 9th | |
| 2024 |  Algarve Pro Racing |  Roman De Angelis Matthias Kaiser | Oreca 07-Gibson | LMP2 | 294 | 22nd | 8th |