Williams has signed experienced test driver Oliver Turvey: The Briton was employed by McLaren for the past 15 years
Williams has signed one of the most experienced test drivers of all time for the 2025 Formula One season and made Briton Oliver Turvey its new test and development driver. The British racing team made the announcement on Wednesday.
Although the 37-year-old has not yet competed in a Grand Prix, he still has 15 years of experience at Grove: Turvey joined McLaren as a test driver in 2009 and remained in this role until the 2024 season.
At McLaren, Turvey regularly sat in the simulator and is expected to do the same at Williams. A new state-of-the-art driver-in-loop simulator will go into operation there this year, which will basically become the British racing driver’s new home.
“I’m very happy to be joining Williams,” says Turvey. ”It’s an honor to have the opportunity to work for such a historic and successful team. I’ve admired Williams for a long time and watched Damon Hill win the World Championship for them – a moment that inspired me when I started my own racing career in karting.
“The ambition and determination driving this project is incredibly inspiring and I am relishing the challenge ahead of getting the team back to the top,” he says. ”It is a privilege to be working alongside Alex [Albon] and Carlos [Sainz], who I consider to be two of the best drivers in F1.
“I look forward to using my experience as both a driver and an engineer to work closely with the team in Grove to improve the performance of the car in the simulator and to support the race team,” said Turvey.
In addition to his work as a test driver, Turvey has also been active as a race driver in recent years, winning the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class, among other achievements. He also spent eight years racing for Team NIO (formerly NextEV) in Formula E, where he has been a test driver for DS Penske for the last three years.
“We are very happy to welcome Oliver to our team,” says Sven Smeets, Director of Motorsport. “He brings a wealth of experience and expertise that will be invaluable as we continue to strengthen the team in all areas.”
“The role of a test and development driver is crucial to our journey back to success and I am confident that Oliver, joining Harrison Scott, will lead a strong team developing the current and future cars.”
