Jake Dennis

Jake Dennis (born 16 June 1995) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula E for Andretti and serves as a factory driver for BMW. Dennis won the 2022–23 Formula E World Championship with Andretti.

Born and raised in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, Dennis began competitive kart racing aged eight. After a successful karting career—culminating in his victory at the junior World Championship in 2010—Dennis progressed to junior formulae. He has served as a test driver for Red Bull in Formula One since .

Early career

Karting

Dennis began his racing career in karting at the age of eight with Andy Cox Racing. In 2005, he clinched South West Cadet championship title. Following year he finished third in the Shenington Club Championship. In 2008, he received Racing Steps Foundation backing and graduated to KF3 category. In his first year, he became British champion in KF3. By 2010, he claimed MSA Super 1 British Junior Championship and the CIK-FIA U18 World Championship.^[2]

InterSteps & Formula Renault

In 2011, Dennis made his début in single-seaters taking part in the new-for-2011 InterSteps championship for Fortec Motorsport, dominated in the championship and won the title with eight wins.^[3] Also he raced for Fortec in off-season Formula Renault UK Finals Series, finishing 19th in the standings with just three point-scoring finishes.^[4]

Dennis continued his collaboration with Fortec for Formula Renault 2.0 NEC (initially in British Formula Renault Championship but the championship was closed due to lack of entries) and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0.^[5][6]

Dennis was nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award due to his performances in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC series,^[7] Jake then went on to win the prestigious award, and became the youngest ever participant at only seventeen years of age.

In 2014, Dennis joined Carlin Motorsport to compete in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship, where he collected multiple podiums.

GP3 Series

In December 2015, it was announced that Dennis would compete in the 2016 GP3 Series with Arden International. He finished fourth in the drivers standings, having taken a pair of victories.

Formula E

Andretti (2021–present)

2020–21 season

Dennis debuted in the 2020–21 Formula E World Championship driving for the BMW i Andretti team alongside Maximilian Günther.^[8] With no points from the first four races, he took his first win during the second race of the 2021 Valencia ePrix, held at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, and a second win in the first race round the Excel arena in London. After a red flag in the final race of the season in Berlin which saw two title contenders eliminated on the start line. The provisional standings meant Dennis and de Vries would be tied on 95 points if the race finished as it was, however in the restart Dennis, went for an overtake and crashed, meaning he would score no points, and not win the championship in his rookie season.

Dennis finished the season with four retirements and ended up third in the standings with 91 points, placing as the highest rookie.^[9]

2021–22 season

Dennis remained with Andretti despite BMW withdrawing from the team. He was partnered by Oliver Askew.^[10] Dennis took third in the opening race and fifth the next day giving him 25 points after two races. He then took one point from the next three races with a DNF in the second race in Rome, and then two points from the next three, with a total of 28 points from eight races. with a sixth, seventh, tenth and eighth following up. Dennis then had 47 points from twelve races heading to his home race in London.

Dennis topped the FP2 times in London and took the pace into Qualifying to secure pole and three points, Dennis won round 13 leading the race from championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne, and also took the fastest lap, giving him the maximum 29 points on Saturday. Dennis took pole again on Sunday but fought with di Grassi for the win and ended the race in second with the fastest lap. The strong weekend meant he climbed up the championship table gaining 51 points in two races. Dennis finished fourth with a fastest lap and third in Seoul to finish the season in sixth with 126 points, joint on points with di Grassi but behind due to countback, and di Grassi having one fourth place and Dennis having no fourth places.^[9]

2022–23 season: World Champion

Dennis extended his contract to remain with Andretti for the 2022–23 season and beyond.^[11] At the season opener in Mexico City, Dennis managed to qualify second despite damaging his front wing during the quarter-final session, which he was unable to change due to Parc fermé regulations.^[12] He used his position to overtake poleman Lucas di Grassi in the opening stage of the race, after which the Briton created a gap, taking victory with a margin of eight second and becoming the first winner of the Gen3 era.^[13][14] His title charge continued in Diriyah, as, having started from the sixth row of the grid, Dennis charged through to finish second, narrowly missing out on victory to Pascal Wehrlein,^[15][16] an end result that repeated itself the following day.^[17][18] At the Hyderabad ePrix, Dennis would miss out on the points for the first time that year, being the victim of an error from René Rast, who collided with the back of the Andretti driver in the closing stages of the race.^[19] Misery would pile on in Cape Town, where, having been given a drive-through penalty for under-pressured tyres, the Briton ended up 13th.^[20]

In São Paulo, Dennis crashed into the back of championship rival Pascal Wehrlein after contact with Dan Ticktum, causing him to once again not score points and take only a fifth DNF in Formula E. The Brit once again failed to score at the following race in Berlin, being involved in a crash with António Félix da Costa due to a brake failure, though he was able to come back with a runner-up finish on Sunday.^[21][22] This began a podium streak which continued through the races in Monaco, Jakarta, and Portland, edging himself back into the title battle.^[23][24]

Following a lap count misjudgement on the part of Andretti that cost Dennis a potential victory in the first Rome race, a pole and subsequent victory in race two put the Brit into the lead of the championship, with his title rivals Cassidy and Evans having crashed out behind him.^[25][26] He eventually clinched the title at London with one race to go, having finished second on Saturday.^[27] By the end of the campaign, Dennis had scored eleven podiums, including two wins and two podiums, outscoring his teammate Lotterer by 206 points.

2023–24 season

Pre-season, Dennis signed a multi-year extension to remain with Andretti through the 2024–25 Formula E season and beyond.^[28] He would be partnered at the team for the 2023–24 season with Norman Nato.^[29] During the first race in Diriyah, Dennis battled past Jean-Éric Vergne before extending his lead, scoring the fastest lap and taking the win in dominant fashion, ending up thirteen seconds ahead of Vergne.^[30][31]

2024–25 season

Dennis was partnered alongside Nico Müller for the 2024–25 season.

2025–26 season

For the 2025–26 season, Dennis was joined alongside Felipe Drugovich, who replaced the Porsche-bound Müller.

2026–27 season

In February 2026, Dennis signed another multi-year deal to remain with the team into the Gen4 era.^[32]

IndyCar

Following his season in Formula E in 2022 for the Avalanche Andretti team, Dennis tested one of the team's cars in October 2022 in a private IndyCar driver evaluation test at Sebring.^[33][34]

Formula One

In , Dennis was the simulator and development driver for Red Bull Racing. As a result of the team's association with Aston Martin, he tested for them at the Barcelona mid-season tests in May 2018, and then again at the Hungaroring in August.^[35] As of 2023, Dennis remains a development driver for Red Bull.^{[citation needed]}

Dennis was chosen to participate in the Friday free practice session (FP1) at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for Red Bull.^[36] He finished the session in 16th.^[37]

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Dennis was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup results

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

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

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

Complete FIA Formula 3 European 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 over 90% of the race distance.

Complete GP3 Series results

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

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete GT World Challenge results

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

Complete Formula E results

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

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula One participations

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

Notes

1. ^ Dennis competed using the number 1 during his World Championship defence in 2023–24.^[38]

References

1. ^ Goodwin, Graham (4 October 2023). "FIA Publish 2024 Driver Categorisations (Updated)". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
2. ^ "Jake Dennis". racingsteps.co.uk. Racing Steps Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
3. ^ "InterSteps Championship 2011". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
4. ^ "ENTRY LIST". British Formula Renault Championship. Facebook. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
5. ^ Paice, Simon (29 March 2012). "Fortec four confirm NEC switch". The Checkered Flag. BlackEagleMedia Network. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
6. ^ "Spa-Francorchamps: Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Collective Test 1". World Series by Renault Timing. Alkamel Systems;Renault Sport. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
7. ^ "McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award nominees 2012 announced". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
8. ^ "Jake Dennis joins Max Guenther at BMW i Andretti Motorsport for Season 7". FIA Formula E. 30 October 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
9. ^ "Driver Standings". FIA Formula E. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
10. ^ Kew, Matt (13 August 2021). "Dennis to remain with Andretti in Formula E after BMW's exit". Autosport.com. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
11. ^ "Avalanche Andretti extends Dennis deal with multi-year agreement". ABB Formula E. 31 August 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
12. ^ "Why FE winner had to complete qualifying with half a wing". The Race. 2023-01-15. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
13. ^ "Andretti wins first race of Formula E's Gen3 era with Dennis". The Race. 2023-01-14. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
14. ^ "Dominant Dennis becomes first winner of GEN3 era in Mexico City". The Official Home of Formula E. Retrieved 2023-01-15.^{[dead link]}
15. ^ Western, Yasmin (2023-01-27). "Wehrlein carves through the field to take Diriyah E-Prix win". Motorsport Week. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
16. ^ "Porsche's Wehrlein flies to Round 2 win under the lights in Diriyah". The Official Home of Formula E. Retrieved 2023-01-28.^{[dead link]}
17. ^ Western, Yasmin (2023-01-28). "Wehrlein does the double in Diriyah". Motorsport Week. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
18. ^ "Wehrlein doubles up in Diriyah to take standings lead". The Official Home of Formula E. Retrieved 2023-01-28.^{[dead link]}
19. ^ Flanagan, Aaron & Jenkins, Will (2023-02-24). "Dennis' charge & Porsche domination – Formula E Cape Town race talking points". Dailystar.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
20. ^ "Outrageous sends seal memorable da Costa win in Cape Town". The Official Home of Formula E. Retrieved 2023-02-25.^{[dead link]}
21. ^ "Braking issue to blame for Dennis' Berlin E-Prix crash". www.autosport.com. 2023-04-22. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
22. ^ "Dennis: 'I was in a deep, dark place... we needed that'". Formula E. 2023-04-24. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
23. ^ "Kiwi Cassidy wins in Monaco to take Formula E lead". reuters.com. 6 May 2023.
24. ^ "Formula E: Nick Cassidy wins hectic debut in Portland, heavy crash for Nico Müller - e-formula.news". e-formula.news. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
25. ^ "What prompted Dennis's 'you guys have f***ed me again' rant". The Race. 2023-07-15. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
26. ^ "British driver Jake Dennis closes in on Formula E world title with victory in Rome". independent.co.cuk. 17 July 2023.
27. ^ "Jake Dennis crowned Formula E World Champion". Motor Sport Magazine. 2023-09-01. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
28. ^ "Champion Jake Dennis Signs Multi-Year Extension With Andretti". The Official Home of Formula E.. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
29. ^ "2024 Formula E drivers and teams". 20 October 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
30. ^ "RACE REPORT: Dennis drives to dominant Round 2 win in Diriyah". Formula E. 2024-01-26. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
31. ^ "Andretti's Dennis storms to Diriyah E-Prix 1 win". RACER. 2024-01-26. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
32. ^ "Jake Dennis and Andretti agree multi-year contract extension". The Official Home of Formula E.. 26 February 2026. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
33. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (2022-10-12). "Vips, Armstrong among those testing IndyCars at Sebring". Motorsport. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
34. ^ Pruett, Marshall (2022-10-12). "Blomqvist tops five-car IndyCar test at Sebring". Racer.com
35. ^ "Out of the blue Red Bull tests "insane" – Dennis". Motorsport.com. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
36. ^ Cooper, Adam (23 October 2023). "Jake Dennis set for F1 Abu Dhabi FP1 outing with Red Bull". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
37. ^ "What the teams said – Friday in Abu Dhabi". Formula 1. 25 November 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
38. ^ "Wehrlein to use #1 as reserve driver Beckmann touted for Kiro drive". Motorsport Week. 24 October 2024. Retrieved 26 October 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Profile on Racing Steps Foundation site