Jack Aitken’s fierce ambition makes Renault prodigy an F1 name to watch

There is an easy-going charm and good humour to Jack Aitken. An articulate, witty manner that may be expected from a confident, privately educated young man but one that belies a fiercely determined streak when the visor comes down. Pleasing as it is to engage with a driver who has a personality, it is his will to win that will count as the 22-year-old attempts to make it to Formula One.

He admits this emphatic determination has led to his outlook being described as relentlessly pessimistic. It might be considered the mindset that has defined some of the great drivers, including Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, and Aitken has the bold ambition to aim for the heights they achieved.

Last week he was at the first test in Barcelona in his capacity as Renault’s third and reserve driver. Part of the Renault Sport Academy, he has been awarded a role that is as close as a driver can come to F1 without being one of the 20 who will line up in Melbourne on 25 March for the opening grand prix of 2018. Should either Nico Hülkenberg or Carlos Sainz be unable to make a race, the Briton from Shepherd’s Bush in London will take their place but making that final step is a tiny sliver of Aitken’s aspirations.

Source: theguardian