Most racing drivers get to a crossroads when the offers to slide into the cockpit begin to run dry. They have to refocus their energies and passion into another walk of life but British racer James Rossiter certainly doesn’t fit into that category.
Nevertheless, the 39-year-old had a thorny decision to make in the latter part of 2022. Should he continue as a factory driver in the nascent Peugeot Hypercar programme in the World Endurance Championship in 2023 or take up the offer to become the team principal of the Maserati Formula E team as the iconic brand returned to motorsport? For Rossiter, the decision was an easy one to make as he has taken up the reins at the all-electric single-seater series squad to keep his competitive juices flowing. Rossiter had a highly successful career as a driver, fast-tracking himself through the junior single-seater ranks to become a trusted member of the BAR-Honda test driving strength alongside his own racing.
He was on the brink of a Formula 1 drive on two occasions but narrowly missed out, which is something he still regrets. However, he had a decorated stint racing in Japan before entering the Formula E arena as a test and development driver and then opportunities arose for him on the pitwall too.
He took time out of his busy schedule between Formula E races to tackle the Motorsport News readers’ questions, and we are grateful for his time.
Question: Where did the motor racing interest spark in you? What prompted you to want to become a racing driver?
Barry May
Via email
MN: Your dad Jeremy was a successful in his own right in national racing in Formula Ford 1600 and FF2000, the BTCC and sportscars too…
James Rossiter: “In the first month I was alive I went to a World Sportscar Championship event in which my dad was racing. I went to lots of races as a newborn child. In all honesty, I don’t remember a time when I did not want to be a racing driver.
“So, the interest came from my family. I would watch Formula 1 with my father every other Sunday and I remember watching the hour-long qualifying sessions with immense excitement with all the build-up to the last five minutes when everyone would go out on the soft tyres and low fuel and that is how I remember motorsport through my childhood. I knew then that I wanted to be that person inside the car.”
MN: You started karting quite late – at 14 years old. Why was that?
JR: “There is quite a story behind that! Every time I asked my father if I could go racing, he would say no. He knew how difficult it was having tried to have a professional career. [His refusal] was fuelling the fire massively in me, but when I look back, dad was incredibly smart.
“I had a motocross bike when I was younger, but the real trick was that when I was 10, he bought me what was then called a Honda Odyssey. It was effectively a dune buggy which had a rollcage and it had a 350cc two-stroke engine. It was rear-wheel drive. My father got hold of some road traffic cones and we would map out any circuit that we wanted to with all these amazing corners in the field [next to my house] and I would just drive lap after lap of the track. That was my basic education in driving.”
MN: Although your dad might have been thinking about the pennies, what a great way to learn about car control…
