In our latest exclusive interview, we have caught up with ROKiT Venturi Reserve Driver, Jake Hughes to discuss life in lower formula series and his move into Formula E.
Unlike many drivers, Hughes didn’t catch what many call the ‘racing bug’ at an early age but has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the motorsport ladder in the last decade across various series to reach F3, before embarking on a new challenge with ROKiT Venturi Racing in Formula E this season as Reserve Driver.
In this exclusive yet insightful interview, Hughes discusses his motorsport journey from being inspired by Lewis Hamilton to racing across Europe and looks ahead to the future with bright ambitions, whilst also briefly discussing how he manages his passion for Aston Villa whilst away racing.
Having grown up as a huge fan of football, who inspired you to become a racing driver?
Hughes: “Lewis Hamilton was my role model in motorsport when he came into Formula One in 2007. He was obviously very good straight away and he inspired me to start watching motorsport and Formula One, so three years later in 2010, I decided to start karting myself thanks to him and his success.”
You didn’t begin karting until your mid-teenage years so how tough did you find the challenge of adapting to motorsport and quickly mature in competitiveness to match your more experienced on-track rivals?
Hughes: “I didn’t feel the disadvantage so much when I started karting with my age. I guess I didn’t know any different so I was just racing guys who were very experienced in senior karting and saw them as my equal.
“Also the advantage of starting a bit later was that I was already more mature and mixed with the fact that I was racing guys who were 30 years old, 40 years old, it accelerated my learning and my ability as I was being coached and pushed on by guys who were really at the top of their game.
” Although I did realise quite early that I needed to learn very quickly to be able to go to car racing not too late. So I knew I had to learn very quickly.”
You soon stepped up to BRDC F4 where you won the 2013 title in your rookie season but having arrived late on the karting scene, what did you find to be the biggest challenge about stepping up to single seater racing en route to a successful rookie season?
Hughes: “The biggest difference about car racing is the extra weight and the aerodynamics as well as being enclosed cockpit which takes some getting used to to begin with.
“Thankfully I didn’t find the step too hard for myself and got up to speed quite quickly. However I didn’t know what I was capable of to begin with which I think was a blessing because I didn’t overthink anything and just relied naturally on my ability but halfway through the season, I started to believe in myself even more because of the results I was getting and it gave me the belief that I could actually win the title – which thankfully I did.”
“So in many ways because I didn’t have the experience in karting, it allowed me to just drive naturally and resist any external factors to affect me.”
You then went on to race in various European championships across 2014-15 whilst losing 2015 FR 2.0 ALPS title by just five points to Jack Aitken. As a late arrival to racing, how different did you find European racing to BRDC F4 and how has that title defeat benefitted you since?
Hughes: “In Europe obviously the tracks are very different, they are much more open than the likes of Brands Hatch and Oulton Park and there is much more depth to the competition. So the little things make much more of a difference and the gaps are much tighter between drivers, therefore it forces you to improve your driving.
“You spend a lot more time looking at data and on-board video to learn from your teammates which inevitably helps you.”
“In terms of my championship in 2015, I felt like I put together a really strong year. I took a lot of confidence from that season which has stayed with me ever since and unfortunately despite missing out on the title, I do still look back and think it was a very strong year against a more experienced teammate.
“We did have a problem on the car for the last two months which was unfixable which potentially hurt me in my results towards the end of that season but we’ll never know.”
Since 2016, you have raced in GP3 and F3 Europe but 2018 saw you win every race that you contested in F3 Asia, despite missing two rounds which cost you the title by two points. Looking back now, do you regret not contesting those two missed rounds which could have won you a regional F3 title?
Hughes: “I don’t regret missing those two rounds in Asia because I was contracted to do so, so I never thought I would be able to be close to winning the championship anyway. And after winning every race I competed in, 9 wins from 9 races, it’s not like I could have done any more. It was a good experience anyway to race out in Asia.”
2019 saw you finish seventh in F3 with HWA Racelab in the first season since F3 and GP3 merged, plus debut of new generation car. Compared to your time in GP3, do you feel that there was more competition in F3 with more drivers on-track despite some dubious stewarding decisions on top of adapting to the new car?
Hughes: “I think naturally having 30 cars on the grid, the level of competition was tighter and with being with a new team it did make the learning curve harder for HWA. If you had one bad qualifying or a bad first race, it made it almost impossible to have a good weekend.”
“Obviously being the new team, we did make mistakes with the setup and that meant that our season was kind of up and down. We had some very good results like the pole position in Paul Ricard and the race win in Austria, but we were obviously not on a high enough consistency level to be able to fight for the title.”
“However I do still think that we should have finished higher than seventh in the championship. We had a lot of guys take us out of races through no fault of our own, which whilst a lot of guys could say that, I feel like we had more than most and without that I think we would have finished in the top five. The car was definitely capable of doing so.”
Last season saw you return to F3 as the highest placed driver from 2019 who didn’t go and race elsewhere. From your perspective, did you feel that there was more pressure to push for the title off the back of a strong 2019 but ultimately recovered to seventh after a slow start to the season through bad luck?
Hughes: “Honestly I didn’t feel the pressure, I’m very confident in my own ability and I know what I’m capable of. If the car is not able to deliver what I know I am capable of then I don’t lose sleep over that.
“My job in this situation was to help develop a new team which hopefully would come back to help me in my future career, so whilst results are always important it was more about doing a good job for HWA’s expectations.”
“With that being said, I feel like our second half of the season was at a very high level and without a slow start to the season due to various mechanical failures, we could’ve definitely challenged with what we had and the experience we had.”
Once the 2020 F3 season finished, you were handed a one-off chance in F2 at Sochi where you delivered a strong but unfortunately unrewarding weekend. What was it like to make that step up and race against stronger competition and would you be up for a full F2 season in future?
Hughes: “My Formula 2 debut was one that I definitely enjoyed and a big thanks to HWA for allowing me to do so.”
“I think it’s quite clear that the car was not where it needed to be but I still felt like I could deliver a better result than the team was achieving so far in their season. We should have qualified in the top 10 but still P15 and half a second quicker than my experienced teammate [Artem Markelov] was a good first attempt and definitely helped up my stock.”
“I don’t have many aims to race full-time in Formula 2 – the budget required to do so is first of all too high and while I think I’m good enough to do so, Formula One is not where my future lies. At this point in my career, I am targeting Formula E and the World Endurance Championship more.”
This season will see you act as Venturi’s Reserve Driver in Formula E after previously running in the Marrakech Test for NIO then Mercedes. Although you won’t be racing regularly this season, how excited are you to be involved with Venturi and Formula E as reserve driver?
Hughes: “I’m very excited to be the reserve driver for ROKiT Venturi Racing in Formula E. Obviously with Coronavirus, it could be possible that I am required to race this season but in general, it is just about gaining experience on the simulator, in testing and working with the team to show them that I’m ready for a race seat.”
“I’m sure that I will be racing this year which I will hopefully know soon enough but in the meantime it is about working hard at ROKiT Venturi and Mercedes-Benz on the Formula One simulator.”
Away from motorsport, you are a football fan and in particularly a passionate Aston Villa fan. Whilst away racing, how tough is it to keep up with Villa who are surprisingly doing well this season?
Hughes: “Yeah I’m a big Aston Villa fan. Thankfully I do manage to keep up with all of the games whilst away racing. We’re having a very good season and hopefully we manage to get into Europe. I do have to try not to let the bad results get to me though!”
Finally, what are your ambitions for the future?
Hughes: “I think my biggest aim for the future is generally to achieve as much as possible in racing.”
“Your career doesn’t last forever and I want to take part in as many forms of motorsport as possible but for sure winning the world championship in Formula E would be my biggest aim – as well as winning Le Mans and the Nurburgring and Spa 24 Hours. So hopefully I achieve all of those!”
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