Biography

After a couple of years contesting the National Karting Championships, James tested the waters of single-seaters, taking part in test sessions for both Formula Renault and formula Palmer Audi.

The following year he contested the Formula Renault UK Championship with Falcon, finishing fourth overall, including a strong drive to fourth at Thruxton.

He remained in Formula Renault UK for 2003 but switched to Fortec, a win, a pole and nine more podium finished was good enough for third overall, and a place in the finals of the McLaren/Autosport/BRDC Young Driver Award.

In 2004 he remained with Fortec but made the leap up to the British F3 Championship. Three wins and twelve podiums gave him third place overall. Earlier in the year, James got his first taste of F1, testing for the Brackley-based outfit at Jerez. In October he was accepted into the BAR Honda Young Driver Programme.

For 2005 he switched to the F3 Euroseries with Signature Racing, finishing seventh overall, albeit 121 points behind the champion, an English youngster by the name of Hamilton. However, he continued his role with the BAR Honda Young Driver Programme, carrying out further F1 testing.

In 2006 James moved up to the World Series by Renault with Pons Racing. Although he could only manage thirteenth in the championship, he posted a strong performance at Monaco finishing second.

Having been retained as part of the BAR Honda Young Driver Programme, James was promoted to the role of test driver for the Honda F1 Team in November 2006. James was retained by Honda for 2007, though with Christian Klien joining the Brackley outfit it was clear his outings in the RA107 would be limited.

On 14 May 2007, it was revealed that James was to move to Super Aguri as test driver, the English youngster making his debut with the team just a few days later at Paul Ricard.