Mikhail Aleshin

Mikhail Aleshin
Mikhail Aleshin
Born	Mikhail Petrovich Aleshin; May 22, 1987 (age 39); Russia
Occupation	Professional race car driver
Years active	1996–2019 (karting start in 1996, last noted competition in 2019)
Known for	First Russian to win a major global single-seater event; 2010 Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion

Mikhail Petrovich Aleshin (, born 22 May 1987) is a retired Russian professional race car driver, notable for clinching the 2010 title in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series.

Career

Aleshin began his motorsport journey in karting from 1996 through 2000, subsequently competing in a range of international open wheel championships starting in 2001. On 14 April 2007, he made history as the first Russian to triumph in a prominent global single-seater event by winning the season opener of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series at Monza. During the second round of the 2007 GP2 Series season, he substituted for the injured Michael Ammermüller with the ART Grand Prix team, becoming only the second Russian driver, after Vitaly Petrov, to compete in GP2. Despite this, he continued racing in FR3.5 for the 2008 season, where he achieved his highest championship standing to date without securing any wins.

In 2009, Aleshin joined the revived FIA Formula Two Championship, finishing third overall and recording a victory at Oschersleben.

He returned to Formula Renault 3.5 in 2010 with Carlin Motorsport, partnering with Jake Rosenzweig. With three wins that year, he captured the series championship. Additionally, he participated in testing for Renault F1 during the Abu Dhabi young drivers' test and expressed optimism about securing a seat in Formula One for 2011; however, this opportunity did not materialize.

In 2011, Aleshin competed in both the 2011 GP2 Series and 2011 GP2 Asia Series driving for Carlin alongside teammate Max Chilton. Technical difficulties relegated him to last place in the Asia series, and financial limitations forced him to withdraw temporarily. He later obtained a last-minute contract to continue in GP2 but sustained injuries during qualifying at Turkey, causing him to miss several races. After returning at Catalunya, he was replaced due to funding challenges. Following an eight-race hiatus, he rejoined Carlin at Hungaroring but was again substituted for the season finale, concluding the season at the bottom of the standings.

In 2014, Aleshin began competing in the IndyCar Series with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

Fontana crash

During practice for the final race of the 2014 IndyCar season at Fontana, Aleshin—who was the first Russian driver in the Verizon IndyCar Series—was involved in a serious accident. While maneuvering through Turn 4 on the two-mile circuit at speeds exceeding 200 mph, his No. 7 vehicle touched the apron, causing it to spin out. Charlie Kimball, traveling along the high line, collided nearly head-on with Aleshin's sliding car. The collision propelled both cars into the outer retaining wall; Aleshin’s car flipped over Kimball’s vehicle and breached the catch fencing before coming back onto the track, scattering debris and damaging safety barriers. Kimball escaped without injury, whereas Aleshin was rushed to hospital with critical injuries including a concussion, fractured ribs, a broken clavicle, and chest trauma.

Kimball remarked, "The No. 7 car spun from below and I had virtually nowhere to go."

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2002	Russian Formula 3 Championship	Lukoil Racing F3	4	0	0	?	1	40	4th
2003	Formula Renault 2000 Germany	JD Motorsport	14	0	0	0	0	99	12th
2003	Formula Renault 2000 Masters	JD Motorsport	8	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2004	Formula Renault 2000 Germany	Lukoil Racing Team	14	0	2	1	3	185	5th
2004	Formula Renault Eurocup	Lukoil Racing Team	16	0	0	0	0	26	17th
2005	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	Lukoil Racing Team	10	0	0	0	0	3	30th
2005	Formula Renault Germany	Lukoil Racing Team	16	1	1	1	7	274	'2nd'
2005–06	A1 Grand Prix	A1 Team Russia	2	0	0	0	0	0	25th
2006	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Carlin Motorsport	17	0	1	0	2	41	11th
2007	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Carlin Motorsport	17	1	1	0	1	44	13th
2007	align=left GP2 Series	Carlin Motorsport	align=left ART Grand Prix	4	0	0	0	0	3	25th
2008	align=left Formula Renault 3.5 Series	align=left Carlin Motorsport	16	0	0	0	3	73	5th
2009	align=left FIA Formula Two Championship	align=left Motorsport Vision	16	1	1	0	5	59	style="background:#FFDF9F;"\|'3rd'
2010	align=left Formula Renault	align = left rowspan = "2" Carlin	17	3	1	2	8	138	style = "background:#FFFFBF;" '1st'
align = left GP3 Series	2	0	0	0	0	NC
2011	align = left GP2 Series	align = left Carlin	8	0	0	0	0	32nd
2012	align = left Formula Renault	align = left Team RFR	17	0	1	1	1	46	13th
2013	align = left Formula Renault	align = left Tech-1 Racing	17	0	0	0	0	33	12th
2014	align = left IndyCar Series Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports	18	0	0	0	1	372	17th
2015	align = left European Le Mans Series - LMP2 AF Corse/SMP Racing	5	0	0	0	3	56	5th
2016	align = left IndyCar Series Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	16	0	1	0	1	347	15th
2017	align = left IndyCar Series Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	12	0	0	0	0	237	19th
2018-19	align = left FIA World Endurance Championship SMP Racing	8	0	0	0	4	94	4th
2019	align = left Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup / Le Mans SMP Racing	6	1	1	1	3	73	style="background:#DFDFDF;"\|'2nd' / '3rd' (Le Mans)

^† As a guest competitor, Aleshin was not eligible to earn championship points.

Full Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Results

(key) (Races shown in bold denote pole position; those in italics signify fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final Position	Points
2005	Lukoil Racing Team	ZOL 1 12	ZOL 2 11	VAL 1 18	VAL 2 19	LMS 1	LMS 2	BIL 1 DNS	BIL 2 DNS	OSC 1 Retired	OSC 2 14	DON 1 9	DON 2 Retired	EST 1 Retired	EST 2 26	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	30th	3

Full Formula Renault 3.5 Series Results

(key) (Races in bold represent pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

...

Formula Renault 3.5 Results
Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final Standing	Points Earned
2006	Carlin Motorsport	ZOL 1 13	ZOL 2 Retired	MON 1 15	IST 1 23	IST 2 2	minisano World Circuit	MIS 1 7	minisano World Circuit	MIS 2 16	[[Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	SPA 1 ]] Retired	[[Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	SPA 2 ]] 6	[[Nürburgring	NÜR 1 ]] 3	[[Nürburgring	NÜR 2 ]] 21	[[Donington Park	DON 1 ]] 7	[[Donington Park	DON 2 ]] 9	[[Bugatti Circuit	LMS 1 ]] 19	[[Bugatti Circuit	LMS 2 ]] Retired	[[Circuit de Catalunya	CAT 1 ]] 8	[[Circuit de Catalunya	CAT 2 ]] 13	12th	41

Full GP2 Series Results

(key) (Races highlighted in bold denote pole position) (Races shown in italics signify fastest lap)

GP2 Series performance record
Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Final Position	Points Scored
2007	ART Grand Prix	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	CAT FEA 6	CAT SPR Ret	MON FEA	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	VAL FEA 9	VAL SPR 20	25th	3
2011	Carlin	IST FEA DNS	IST SPR DNS	CAT FEA 16	CAT SPR 18	MON FEA	MON SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA 15	HUN SPR 15	SPA FEA Ret	SPA SPR Ret	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR				32nd	0

Full GP2 Asia Series Results

( key) (Pole positions are shown in bold, fastest laps in italics)

GP2 Asia Series performance record
Year	Team	1	2	3	4	Final Position	Points Scored
2011	Carlin	style="background:#EFCFFF;" \| YMC FEA Ret	style="background:#CFCFFF;" \| YMC SPR 24	style="background:#CFCFFF;" \| IMO FEA 20	style="background:#CFCFFF;" \| IMO SPR 20	27th	0

Full FIA Formula Two Championship Results

(key) (Entries in bold represent pole positions) (Entries in italics denote fastest laps)

FIA Formula Two Championship outcomes
Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final Standing	Points Scored
2009	VAL 1 4th	VAL 2 6th	BRN 1 2nd	BRN 2 Retired	SPA 1 18th	SPA 2 8th	BRH 1 10th	BRH 2 3rd	DON 1 2nd	DON 2 7th	OSC 1 5th	OSC 2 1st	IMO 1 7th	IMO 2 Retired	CAT 1 2nd	CAT 2 7th	3rd	59

24 Hours of Daytona

( key)

24 Hours of Daytona performance summary
Year	Category	Car No.	Team Name	Vehicle	Co-drivers	Completed Laps	Overall Position	Class Position
2014	GTD	72	United States SMP/ESM Racing	Ferrari 458	Template:Country data RUS Template:Namespace detect showall Boris Romanovich Rotenberg Template:Country data RUS Template:Namespace detect showall Sergey Zlobin Template:Country data ITA Template:Namespace detect showall Maurizio Mediani Template:Country data FIN Template:Namespace detect showall Mika Salo	662	21st	4th

IndyCar Series

( key)

Results in the IndyCar Series

Year

Team

Chassis Model

Car Number

Engine Manufacturer

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

Final Rank

Total Points

2014

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Dallara DW12

7

Honda

STP

LBH

ALA

IMS

INDY

DET

2014 Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix (Race 2)

2014 Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway (TXS)

2014 Grand Prix of Houston (Race 1)

2014 Grand Prix of Houston (Race 2)

2014 Pocono IndyCar 500 (POC)

2014 Iowa Corn Indy 300 (IOW)

2014 Honda Indy Toronto (TOR) Race 1

2014 Honda Indy Toronto (TOR) Race 2

}

Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis 500
Year	Chassis	Engine	Starting Position	Finishing Position	Team
2014	Dallara	Honda	15	21	Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports
2016	Dallara	Honda	7	27	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
2017	Dallara	Honda	13	13	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Full European Le Mans Series Results

European Le Mans Series Performance Summary
Year	Team	Category	Chassis	Engine	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Overall Position	Points Earned
2015	AF Corse	LMP2	Oreca 03	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	Silverstone Circuit 8th place					5th overall	56 points
	SMP Racing		rowspan=2 BR Engineering BR01			Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari 8th place	Red Bull Ring 3rd place podium
	AF Racing					Circuit Paul Ricard 2nd place podium finish	Autódromo do Estoril 3rd place podium finish

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans Results

24 Hours of Le Mans Performance Records
Year	Team Name	Co-Drivers	Vehicle Model	Class Category	Completed Laps	Overall Ranking	Class Ranking
2015 24 Hours of Le Mans	Template:Country data RUS Template:Namespace detect showall SMP Racing	Template:Country data RUS Template:Namespace detect showall Kirill Ladygin Template:Country data RUS Template:Namespace detect showall Anton Ladygin	BR Engineering BR01-Nissan	LMP2 Class	322 laps completed	33rd overall position	13th in class position
2016 24 Hours of Le Mans	Template:Country data RUS Template:Namespace detect showall SMP Racing	Template:Country data ITA Template:Namespace detect showall Maurizio Mediani Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Nicolas Minassian	BR Engineering BR01-Nissan	LMP2 Class	347 laps completed	11th overall position	7th within class
2017 24 Hours of Le Mans	Template:Country data RUS Template:Namespace detect showall SMP Racing	Template:Country data RUS Template:Namespace detect showall Sergey Sirotkin Template:Country data RUS Template:Namespace detect showall Viktor Shaytar	Dallara P217-Gibson Technology	LMP2 Category	330 laps completed	33rd overall rank	16th in class rank

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

SMP Racing	Vitaly Petrov Jenson Button	BR Engineering BR1-AER	LMP1 Class	315 laps completed	DNF (Did Not Finish)	DNF (Did Not Finish)
SMP Racing	Vitaly Petrov Stoffel Vandoorne	BR Engineering BR1-AER	LMP1 Class	379 laps completed	3rd place overall	3rd place in class

FIA World Endurance Championship performance record
Year	Team	Category	Vehicle	Power Unit	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Overall Position	Points Accumulated
2016	SMP Racing	LMP2	BR Engineering BR01	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	SIL	SPA	LMS 7	NÜR	MEX	COA	FUJ 8	SHA 6	BHR 9	16th	34
2018–19	SMP Racing	LMP1	BR Engineering BR1	AER P60B 2.4 L Turbo V6	SPA 5	LMS Ret	SIL Ret	FUJ 4	SHA 3	SEB 3	SPA 3	LMS 3		4th	94