Will Stevens is that relatively rare thing in international motorsport, especially for a British driver, in the sense that he was somewhat unfairly labelled as an outright pay driver during his junior career.
This is something that he addresses elegantly in this interview, where after having a brief Formula 1 stint with troubled minnows Caterham and Manor, he branched out successfully into endurance racing.
Since that time in 2016 he has become one of the UK’s most decorated and accomplished drivers in a variety of series, but most notably in the World Endurance Championship.
He counts two Le Mans class victories and an WEC LMP2 title among his vast achievements since he made that switch.
Today, Stevens is ensconced in the same Jota team that he won his World title and second Le Mans with racing a Porsche 963 Hypercar alongside his old karting friend Antonio Felix da Costa and Yifei Ye. He is also a valued member of the McLaren F1 development programme.
He kindly took time out of his schedule before he set off for the final WEC round of the season in Bahrain to tackle the MN readers’ posers, and we are grateful
Question: Where did your interest in motorsport start?
James Hilton
Via email
Will Stevens: “I sort of got into motorsport via my dad, Richard. He used to do a little bit just as a hobby in Ferrari Challenge. I’ve sort of always been around race tracks if you like, just growing up.
“Dad bought a car from Robin Mortimer, whose son Alex used to race and we just went along once and watched. From there I had a little go and liked it, and obviously just got into it, quickly.
“My first day in the kart was at the Chasewater track, which is now under the M6 toll road! Then it got serious from there, to be honest. There was no real big family history or anything like in motorsport, it just started off as a hobby really.”
Question: When did you realise you had a motorsport talent and could pursue a career from it?
Neil Fletcher
Via email
WS: “Even from when I was in cadets it was always very competitive from the very start. But I’d say 2004-2005 time, when I won the British championship, we really started to take it very seriously and pursue it more than just a hobby. We actually started to make a proper plan of how it might progress as a career later down the line.”
Question: What were your early days climbing the single-seater ladder like?
Damien Doherty
Via email
“The 2007 season was a very good year for me in karting as I was with Tony
