McLaren has made 11-year-old Harry Williams its youngest-ever addition to its driver development programme.

The British karting prodigy is two years younger than Lewis Hamilton was when he joined McLaren’s junior roster aged 13 in 1998.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton made his F1 debut at the age of 22 in 2007 and won his maiden world championship with McLaren a year later. 

He has gone on to become the most successful product of McLaren’s young driver programme.

“I am really excited to join the McLaren Driver Development Programme,” Williams, who heralds from Cheshire, said.

“They’re known for developing talent, so it’s great to join the team as I continue to progress in karting and into single-seater racing in the future. I look forward to learning from the team, and thank them for this exciting opportunity.”

Williams started karting in 2021 in the Super One Series and graduated to the Cadet category in 2022. After signing to Fusion Motorsport, he went on to compete at national and international-level championships in 2023.

The following year, Williams secured a top-10 championship in the British IAME Inter Waterswift category while continuing on the international karting scene.

In 2025, Williams became the British Open Champion, O plate winner in the Italian Waterswift Series and finished fifth in the European Waterswift Championship.

Having switched classes to juniors, Williams immediately impressed by finishing third in the SK Final Cup in OKN-J. In 2026, he has so far contested the WSK Super Master Series in the OK-Junior category.

Williams will also compete in the WSK Euro Series, Champions of the Future Series and the FIA Karting Championships in the same category.

“We are very pleased to have signed Harry to the McLaren Driver Development Programme,” said Alessandro Aluni Bravi, McLaren’s chief business affairs officer.

“Harry is a fantastic karter who has impressed on the national andinternational stage so far, so we are excited to see how he develops as a McLaren driver going forward.

“Our goal is to build a consistent pipeline, laddering into our race programmes in F1, IndyCar and the World Endurance Championship for many years to come, and adding Harry as a talented young karter demonstrates this.”