Karting Aitken started his karting career at
Buckmore Park Kart Circuit in
Kent aged seven. He competed in the 2010
Super 1 National Kart Championships in the Rotax Mini Max class, with ProTrain racing alongside
Jack Hawksworth, finishing third behind champion and future
Formula 2 teammate
George Russell.
Formula Renault Aitken progressed into single-seater car racing in 2012, competing in the four races of the
2012 Formula Renault BARC Winter Series. He won the final race at
Rockingham Motor Speedway and finished second in the standings behind
Fortec Motorsport teammate
Seb Morris. He also competed for Fortec in the 2012 Dunlop InterSteps Championship, taking two wins to finish third in the championship behind future
GP3 Series competitor
Matt Parry. In 2013, Aitken competed in the
Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, in a field which included future
Formula One drivers
Esteban Ocon and
Alex Albon. He finished second in the championship, again losing out to Fortec teammate Parry. Aitken also appeared as a guest driver in three rounds of the main
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series, recording a best finish of ninth place at the
Red Bull Ring. Aitken entered his first full season of
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 in 2014 with Fortec. He won one race at the
Hungaroring and finished on the podium three further times to end the season seventh in the championship. During the first half of the campaign, he had to finish his
A-Level qualifications while attending
Westminster School. He also made guest appearances in the
Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series, with best finishes of fourth place at the
Imola Circuit. For 2015, Aitken moved to
Koiranen GP in Formula Renault 2.0, contesting both the
Eurocup and
Alps series. He won both titles at the final rounds at the
Circuito de Jerez, one week apart. He took nine race wins in total, finishing ahead of
Louis Delétraz in the Eurocup and
Jake Hughes in the Alps series.
Pro Mazda Championship Aitken made his first appearance in American open-wheel racing in 2014, competing in one round of the
Pro Mazda Championship (now the
Indy Pro 2000 Championship) at the
Sonoma Raceway with a best finish of fourth place. In 2015, he took part in the
Pro Mazda Winterfest for
Team Pelfrey. He won three of the five races to win the championship ahead of future
IndyCar driver
Dalton Kellett and future
Williams Formula One teammate
Nicholas Latifi.
GP3 Series 2016 In January 2016, Aitken stepped up to the
GP3 Series with
Arden International. In his maiden season, he claimed a victory at
Spa-Francorchamps and six additional podiums to finish fifth in the overall standings, one point behind teammate
Jake Dennis. In that year, Aitken also made brief appearances in the
Euroformula Open and
Formula V8 3.5 series, claiming two wins and two pole positions in four races in Euroformula Open and a pole position in Formula V8 3.5.
2017 In February 2017, it was announced that Aitken would remain in the GP3 Series, switching to reigning team champions
ART Grand Prix. He took one race win at the
Hungaroring and five further podium finishes, finishing second in
the championship with 141 points, behind champion and former karting rival George Russell on 220 points.
Formula 2 2018 In January 2018, ART Grand Prix announced Aitken would join their Formula 2 team for the
2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship, again partnering Russell. He took his first podium finish with second place in the
Baku feature race, and later took his first victory in the
Barcelona sprint race. He finished 11th in the championship with 63 points, whilst Russell claimed the title with 287 points.
2019 in 2019 For the
2019 season, Aitken moved to
Campos Racing, initially partnering
Dorian Boccolacci and later
Arjun Maini and
Marino Sato. Aitken took his first win of the season, and Campos Racing's first win in Formula 2, at the
Baku feature race. He also won his home sprint race at
Silverstone, after overtaking
Louis Delétraz on lap 17. Aitken also won the
Monza sprint race after defending from the
MP Motorsport car of
Jordan King. King criticised Aitken's defensive driving as he claimed after the race that Aitken was weaving down the straight. Aitken finished fifth in the standings, scoring 159 of Campos' 189 points and helping them to finish fifth in the teams' championship.
2020 Aitken remained at Campos for
2020, partnering
Guilherme Samaia. Aitken took a double-podium finish at the second
Silverstone round, finishing third in both the feature race and sprint race. He was involved in a high-speed collision with
Luca Ghiotto on lap seven of the sprint race at
Sochi. Both drivers were uninjured, but damage to the barriers caused the race to be
red-flagged and not restarted. Aitken missed the final round at the
Bahrain to race in Formula One, and was replaced by
Ralph Boschung. Aitken finished 14th in the standings, scoring all of Campos' 48 points.
2021 Aitken left Campos and the Formula 2 series after 2020, however he returned during the season with
HWA Racelab as a replacement for
Matteo Nannini, who withdrew from the championship after the first round. He was initially signed for the second and third rounds in
Monaco and
Baku respectively and was later retained for the fourth round at
Silverstone. He recorded a best finish of ninth place in the second Monaco sprint race, but failed to score points over the three rounds. == Formula One career ==