Jehan Daruvala
Jehan Daruvala is an Indian racing driver who last raced in the Formula E for Maserati MSG Racing. He was a protégé of the Force India F1 team, after being one of three winners of a 'One in a Billion hunt' organized by the team in 2011. He is also a former member of the Red Bull Junior Team.
Early life
Daruvala was born in Mumbai to Khurshed and Kainaz Daruvala, a Parsi family. He studied at Bombay Scottish School, Mahim. His father Khurshed is the current Chairman of Sterling & Wilson, an associate company of Shapoorji Pallonji.Junior racing career
Karting
Daruvala started karting at the age of thirteen in 2011, participating in many events across his karting career. He won the 2012 Asia-Pacific Championship and 2013 Super 1 National Championship titles as champion and many other series as runner up across Asia and Europe. Daruvala placed third in the 2014 Karting World Championship. He was coached by Rayomand Banajee who recognised his talent early on and was instrumental in laying the foundations for his future success.Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0
2015
In 2015, Daruvala stepped up to single-seaters with Fortec Motorsport in the Formula Renault 2.0 championships. Three podiums, including consistent points scoring helped him rank fifth in the Northern European Cup. He partook as a guest driver in the Eurocup and Alps series.2016
The following year, Daruvala switched to reigning series champions Josef Kaufmann Racing partnering Lando Norris and Robert Shwartzman. He took an opening pole position at Monza, and in the second race, he took a podium. In Hungary, he took his first Northern European Cup win. Three more third places saw Daruvala rank fourth in the North European Cup. In the Eurocup, Daruvala took an opening podium but was unable to replicate the result again. He eventually finished ninth in the Eurocup standings.Toyota Racing Series
Before the start of Daruvala's 2016 season, he took part in the Toyota Racing Series. Three wins and three more podiums helped Daruvala came second behind champion Lando Norris.Daruvala returned to the Toyota Racing Series for the 2017 season. He claimed the most pole positions of any driver and claimed two wins, one of which was the New Zealand Grand Prix. Despite that, he only ranked fifth in the championship, as the championship fight was more competitive.
European Formula 3 Championship
2017
In November 2016, Daruvala stated his intention to switch to the European Formula 3 Championship for the 2017 season. He signed to race with Carlin the following month. At the first Monza race, Daruvala took his first pole position in the series and would convert it into a second place, having led the majority of the race. He scored another podium at the Hungaroring before finally taking his maiden win at the Norisring, passing polesitter Maximilian Günther on the first lap from second. Daruvala finished sixth in the championship. He also participated in the 2017 Macau Grand Prix, finishing tenth in the race after starting 16th.2018
Daruvala remained with Carlin for the 2018 season. He achieved a third place in the opening weekend at Pau, during the third race. Daruvala scored his only win of the year in the first race of the Spa-Francorchamps round, taking pole position and the fastest lap. Overall, he claimed a total of five podiums, including one win and a pole position. Despite that, Daruvala only ranked tenth in the standings, due to his inconsistent points scoring. Daruvala once again participated in the 2018 Macau Grand Prix. He finished two places lower than the previous year in 12th, having started 17th.GP3 Series
Daruvala joined MP Motorsport in the Yas Marina GP3 finale, taking Niko Kari's seat. He finished both races in 19th and 13th.FIA Formula 3 Championship
In 2019, Daruvala competed in the inaugural Formula 3 season for the Prema Powerteam, alongside Robert Shwartzman and Marcus Armstrong. He qualified fourth at the first race in Barcelona, but fell to seventh in the first race. He made a good start in the second race to pass polesitter Niko Kari at the start. Despite a safety car, he eventually took his inaugural victory. Daruvala qualified on the front row in Paul Ricard, alongside Jake Hughes. He made a slow start, but later passed Hughes later in the race to take his second successive win. This would prove to be his last win of the season. Daruvala pressed hard in the second race to take a third place, his third podium in four races. Daruvala qualified fourth at the Red Bull Ring, he remained and finished in that position in Race one, having nearly taken third place from teammate Armstrong on the last lap. In the second race, Daruvala sat in fourth place heading into the final lap, but ahead his two Prema teammates collided which saw Daruvala promoted to second place at the flag.Daruvala maintained his qualifying form in Silverstone, doing so in third. On the first lap in the first race, Daruvala made up a position on Christian Lundgaard. Mid-race, he aggressively defended from Armstrong but held on and would finish in second place. In the second race, Daruvala and Pedro Piquet duelled for fourth place until Daruvala hit and spun Piquet out. Piquet retired on the spot, while Daruvala came to a halt at the first corner just a few moments later. Daruvala had his worst qualifying of the year in Hungary, qualifying in 17th place. Daruvala progressed up to tenth in the first race, but on the final lap was passed by Logan Sargeant, therefore scoring no points. It was the first weekend for Daruvala to not score any podiums. Daruvala regrouped for the Spa-Francorchamps round, achieving his maiden pole position. His hopes of a third win were shattered, when midway through the first lap, Piquet who had started second, passed him for the lead. Daruvala was unable to pass Piquet, and eventually was passed by teammate Shwartzman. Daruvala ended the race in third. In the second race, Daruvala pushed to finish in fifth.
In Monza, Daruvala qualified fourth. However, he was penalized five places for each race due to driving unnecessarily slowly, which saw him demoted down to tenth. But he made a strong fightback, finishing third behind both his teammates. In the second race, Daruvala dropped off the points positions at the start, and was unable to recover, eventually finishing in 13th place. At the Sochi season finale, Daruvala qualified in second, but made a terrible start, being passed by Armstrong, Niko Kari and Leonardo Pulcini. He lost another place to Jüri Vips and eventually finished sixth. He was promoted back to fifth after Vips was penalized. Daruvala was set to start in fourth for the second race, but stalled during the formation lap. He battled his way through the field to end the race in 14th. Overall Daruvala scored seven podiums, including two wins, two fastest laps and one pole position. Daruvala was set to compete in the 2019 Macau Grand Prix, but was forced to pull out due to an injury, he was replaced by the 2019 Formula Regional European champion Frederik Vesti.
FIA Formula 2 Championship
2020
In February 2020, Daruvala reunited with Carlin to contest the 2020 season alongside Red Bull Junior Team member Yuki Tsunoda. Additionally, he was also named as a Red Bull Junior. At the same time, he was aiming for a Formula One seat in 2021.Daruvala finally made his debut at the Red Bull Ring round following a delayed start to the season. He qualified sixth on his debut weekend. Daruvala's hope of points were over following a poor start, before being tipped into a spin by Tsunoda. Daruvala was unable to recover and finished in 13th. He finished 16th in the sprint race, his highlight of the race being punting Luca Ghiotto out of the race. Daruvala qualified seventh for the 2nd Red Bull Ring round. However, he had slow pace compared to the others and slowly dropped out of the points to finish 12th. In the sprint race, Daruvala advanced up to ninth but in the end just missed out on points, finishing just five tenths behind Nikita Mazepin.
Daruvala qualified 16th at the Hungaroring. For the feature race, he would attempt the alternate strategy by starting on the hard tyres. It would prove to be massively successful for Daruvala, as he made many overtakes to finish sixth, scoring his first Formula 2 points. Daruvala had an atrocious start in the sprint race, falling to ninth by the first lap. But he was able to recover and finish sixth once again. Daruvala kept his top 10 qualifying streak, ranking seventh in Silverstone. During the feature race, he had another poor start, falling to tenth in the first few laps. He pitted early and was back up in seventh, but when drivers behind on fresher tyres passed him, Daruvala dropped to tenth at the flag. He fell to 12th at the start of the sprint race, but made an opportunity to pit under the safety car. He made passes to end the race in fifth, after Guanyu Zhou spun on the last lap. Daruvala qualified in a poor 16th position at the second Silverstone weekend. His weekend was uneventful, finishing 12th in the feature race and just missing points in 9th in the sprint race. Daruvala had another uneventful and poor weekend in Spain, qualifying 12th and finishing both races in 17th.
Daruvala qualified ninth in Spa-Francorchamps. His weekend would turn out to be frustrating, suffering contact at the start and suffering damage to his front wing and tyre. After pitting for repairs, Daruvala had a lonely race to finish 19th, a minute and a half behind the leader. He finished 16th in the sprint race, which was his third non-scoring weekend. Daruvala qualified eighth in Monza. He went on the alternate strategy during the feature race and was down in 12th after his pit stop. A last lap pass on Marcus Armstrong saw him take tenth place and one point to end his non-scoring run. Daruvala benefitted from many retirements to finish seventh in the sprint race, before being promoted to sixth. Daruvala qualified sixth in Mugello. Once again, he had another poor start, dropping to 12th. He finished the race in 11th, but was elevated to tenth after Tsunoda was penalized. Daruvala finished the sprint race in sixth, benefitted from a collision by the Hitech Grand Prix drivers.
Daruvala qualified a season best second in Sochi qualifying, forming a Carlin front-row lockout alongside Tsunoda. He dropped to third at the start after being overtaken by Mick Schumacher. Daruvala was then undercut by Callum Ilott and Luca Ghiotto to end the race in fifth. Starting fourth in the sprint race, Daruvala dropped to fifth before receiving a five-second time penalty for corner cutting while battling Jack Aitken. With the race red-flagged, Daruvala was re-classified 11th. From eighth in Bahrain, Daruvala had a good start, making up two places in the feature race start. He soon faded down to tenth, and pitted early. As a result, Daruvala made an undercut on many drivers and was up to third. He defended hard from Schumacher in the late stages of the race to come through for his maiden Formula 2 podium. Daruvala was up in third during the sprint race opening lap. It was not to last however, he was soon passed by Mazepin before being hit by Ilott behind, ending Daruvala's race. Daruvala qualified third for the second Bahrain round, but dropped to sixth during the feature race start. He eventually finished seventh. Lining up second for the sprint race, Daruvala was passed by Schumacher on lap 4 but re-passed him back four laps later. He then hunted down Dan Ticktum and overtook him. He then took his first Formula 2 victory ahead of Tsunoda. Followed the win, Daruvala stated that he was "really excited for the future". Daruvala finished the championship with 72 points, in 12th place, far behind teammate Tsunoda in third who graduated to Formula One.