Taylor Barnard

Taylor Barnard (born 1 June 2004) is a British racing driver who is currently racing for AIX Racing in the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship and is the reserve and development driver for the McLaren Formula E Team. He was runner-up in the final season of ADAC Formula 4 and a race winner in FIA Formula 3 for Jenzer Motorsport. He made his Formula E debut with McLaren at the 2024 Monaco ePrix and is currently the youngest driver to start a race and the youngest points scorer in Formula E.

Karting
Born in Norwich, Barnard began karting in 2012 at the Trent Valley Kart Club. From there, he branched out to the Super 1 National Championship, where he would remain until his title victory in 2017. Added to that, Barnard won the Kartmasters British Grand Prix on two occasions, as well as winning the LGM Series in the IAME Cadet category.

The Briton moved onto the European stage in 2018, racing in the OK Junior class for KR Motorsport, for whom he would win the WSK Final Cup at season's end. Having become a karting protégé of Nico Rosberg and joined the Formula One World Champion's Racing Academy, Barnard progressed into the OK Senior category the following year. He would win the WSK Champions Cup at the start of the campaign, whilst coming fourth in the European Championship. That year, Barnard also finished second in the Karting World Championship, missing out narrowly to Lorenzo Travisanutto in wet conditions. Barnard remained with Rosberg Racing Academy for his final karting season in 2020, where he once again ended up as the runner-up of the World Championship, this time losing out against Callum Bradshaw. That year brought more trophies however, with Barnard taking another WSK Champions Cup crown, as well as winning the WSK Open Cup.

2020
Barnard made his car racing debut in 2020, competing in three rounds of the Italian F4 Championship for AKM Motorsport. With two points coming from the weekend at Monza, Barnard ended up 26th in the standings.

2021
For 2021, Barnard partnered up with BWR Motorsports, a team affiliated with his mentor Nico Rosberg, to compete in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship. However, following just three rounds, in which Barnard took a best result of fourth, the team was forced to miss two events, only returning for the season finale. Because of this, the Briton finished 17th in the championship, taking 17 points.

2022
Nevertheless, Barnard remained in Formula 4 the following year, driving for newly-formed team PHM Racing alongside Nikita Bedrin and Jonas Ried. He began the year by competing in the F4 UAE Championship in January, taking his and his team's first win in car racing at the Yas Marina Circuit. The rest of the campaign was plagued by reliability issues relating to the car, as Barnard ended up ninth overall.

Barnard's main campaign would lie in the Italian F4 and ADAC Formula 4 series, which he would once again contest with PHM. In the former, Barnard took one podium at Vallelunga Circuit and finished eighth in the standings, whilst in the latter, his campaign would be more successful. Having started out with two sixth places and a collision with teammate Ried at Spa-Francorchamps, the Briton experienced a more positive weekend in Hockenheim, taking a pair of podiums. Following more points finishes at Zandvoort, the event at the Nürburgring became a turning point for Barnard. After taking his first victory of the season in Race 1, owing to a five-second penalty to leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli for a jump start, Barnard fended off his Italian rival in Race 2, scoring another win. With championship leader Antonelli absent at the penultimate round at the Lausitzring, Barnard would capitalise, winning two races and finishing second in Race 1, in a weekend characterised by a number of battles with his teammate Nikita Bedrin. Despite this, Barnard would be unable to take the title, although another pair of podiums at the season finale, including a victory in the final race, meant that the Briton became the championship runner-up.

2023
During the opening months of 2023, Barnard competed in the inaugural Formula Regional Middle East Championship with PHM Racing. After taking two podium places in the opening round at Dubai Autodrome, he took his first race victory in the second round at Kuwait Motor Town. He originally finished the race in second position, but was promoted to the win after race winner Joshua Dufek was disqualified due to a technical infringement. A second win followed at the next round, also held in Kuwait, before he took three podium places in the penultimate round in Dubai.

Barnard went into the final round at Yas Marina Circuit with a chance of the championship title, but two disappointing finishes outside of the points in the first two races meant he ultimately finished as runner-up in the championship to Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

2024
Barnard competed in the championship again in the 2024 season with PHM Aix Racing.

FIA Formula 3
In the autumn of 2022, Barnard, along with his Formula 4 teammate Nikita Bedrin and Euroformula Open driver Alex García, took part in the FIA Formula 3 Championship post-season test for Jenzer Motorsport. In January 2023, Barnard was announced as the final driver for Jenzer Motorsport to complete its lineup for the 2023 season, alongside Bedrin and García.

Barnard scored his first championship points in the Melbourne feature race, beginning a run of five consecutive points-scoring positions, during which time he also qualified on the front row of the grid for the Barcelona round.

After taking his first podium finish with second in the sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps, Barnard took his maiden Formula 3 victory in the following day's feature race, holding off Christian Mansell in a race that took place in mixed conditions.

The final round in Monza saw Barnard take another podium position, allowing him to finish tenth in the championship standings.

In September 2023, Barnard was named as one of four nominees for the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award, alongside Formula 4 racer Arvid Lindblad and GB3 Championship drivers Callum Voisin and Joseph Loake.

FIA Formula 2
In February 2024, it was announced that Barnard would graduate to the 2024 season of the FIA Formula 2 Championship with PHM AIX Racing partnering Joshua Dürksen. Dubai-based AIX Investment Group later completed acquisition of the F2 and F3 structures of the team in May 2024 and the team will compete as AIX Racing. Barnard scored his first points finish of the series by finishing in seventh in the sprint race at Round 4 in Imola. He was later disqualified over an alleged failure to engage the start set-up procedure on the formation lap. At Round 5 in Monaco, Barnard won his maiden Formula 2 race victory in the sprint race.

2023–24 season
In October 2023, Barnard took part in pre-season testing for the 2023–24 season of Formula E with McLaren Formula E Team as part of a mandatory rookie test. He took part in the opening session of the test and finished in 7th place, just under half a second from the fastest time set by Mitch Evans. He also finished the session as the fastest rookie driver. In January 2024, Barnard was signed as McLaren's reserve and developmental driver for the season.

Barnard made his Formula E debut at the Monaco ePrix with McLaren from FP2 onwards to replace Sam Bird who suffered a hand injury from a crash in FP1. He qualified in 22nd and finished his debut race in 14th while becoming the youngest driver to start a Formula E race at 19 years and 331 days. Barnard continued to deputise for Bird at the Berlin ePrix, where he finished Race 1 in tenth to score his first Formula E points while becoming the youngest Formula E points scorer. He ended the double-header weekend by finishing Race 2 in eighth.

Complete CIK-FIA Karting European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Italian F4 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete ADAC Formula 4 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula 4 UAE Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Regional Middle East Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † – Driver did not finish the race but was classified, as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) * Season still in progress.

Complete Formula E results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
 * Season still in progress.