Oliver "Olli" Caldwell (born 11 June 2002) is a British racing driver who is competing for Alpine in the FIA World Endurance Championship and for Inter Europol Competition in the European Le Mans Series. He is a race winner in the FIA Formula 3, Formula Regional European, Italian F4 and ADAC Formula 4 championships and former member of the Alpine Academy.
Career
Karting
Caldwell was born in Hampshire, and began karting in 2013 at the age of eleven. Having raced in karts for four seasons, Caldwell finished third in the 2016 edition of the Rotax Euro Challenge and took part in the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in the same year. He later credited representing Great Britain at the latter competition, where he finished eighth and broke the then-lap record, as his best moment of his five-year karting career.
Ginetta Junior Championship
In 2016, Caldwell progressed into car racing, driving for JHR Developments in the second half of the Ginetta Junior Championship. Having scored a rookie podium on his debut, the Brit would finish all but two of his thirteen races in the top ten, ending up 19th in the overall standings.
Formula 4
F4 British Championship
Having taken part in multiple tests of the F4 British Championship in the first half of 2017, Caldwell made his single-seater debut at the Croft Circuit with Arden, which, as he had missed the opening third of the campaign due to age requirements, made him the youngest ever participant in a British F4 race at the age of 15. He competed in the series for the remainder of that year, finishing 14th with a highest finishing position of seventh, which he recorded in three separate events. In addition to that, the Brit amassed a total of 14 podiums, which included five victories, in the Challenge Cup, the series' equivalent to a rookie championship.
ADAC Formula 4
That same year, Caldwell made his debut in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship, driving for ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. His highest finish that year was ended up being a 17th place at the Nürburgring, as Caldwell was not classified in the standings due to his status as a guest driver.
In 2018 he made the full-time switch to Prema where he finished in 7th on 125 points, scoring four podiums, with one of them being his only win of the season at Oschersleben.
Italian F4 Championship
Mücke Motorsport was the team Caldwell made his Italian F4 debut for in 2017. In the fifteen races he competed in he recorded ten points, with a highest placing of sixth in the final race at Monza helping him to 11th in the standings.
In 2018 Caldwell switched to the Italian outfit Prema Powerteam, partnering Enzo Fittipaldi and Gianluca Petecof for the entire season. A slow start to the season at Adria which included a fightback to eighth in Race 3 after being sent down the order due to a first lap incident, which he labelled as "disappointing", was cancelled out by two podiums, a pole position and a race win in France. Three podiums from all three Monza races put Caldwell into the championship hunt, although the following two rounds only yielded one podium finish, setting his hopes of winning the title back significantly. However, a dominant weekend at the Vallelunga Circuit, where the Brit scored all three victories after qualifying on pole for every race, gave him a fighting chance for the season finale at Mugello. Two podiums at the final round would not be enough to claim the title, as Caldwell finished third in the standings, being beaten by teammate Fittipaldi and Bhaitech driver Leonardo Lorandi.
Formula 4 UAE
Caldwell competed in the F4 UAE Championship for Silberpfeil Energy Dubai in preparation for his 2018 season. He would only race in the first two rounds, winning three races and ending up seventh in the championship.