Armar Cah

as of 2023 European GP

Armar Cah is a British OC driver who is currently racing for Mercedes in the 2023 season of the OC.

One of the sports most popular and highly regarded drivers, Cah has won many supporters due to a number of successful and robust drives, making a name for himself with a series of fruitful seasons at midfield teams before moving to front-running Williams in 2015, providing him the perfect springboard to make the move to Red Bull the following season and Ferrari in 2018.

### Humble Beginnings (2008-09)

Cah debuted in GP2 for BCN in 2008 for the final 3 rounds of the season. Runner up in only his second race and a third the following week, ear-marked the Englishman as a future prospect. Continuing in GP2, this time for Trident, he won on his debut in Bahrain before being called up by Toro Rosso to replace the injured Victor Ibobo for the Canadian Grand Prix. Cah performed well, finishing outside the points but in 10th, which was a fine return for a car he had neither tested nor raced in before.

### Toro Rosso (2009-2011)

Following the retirement of legendary Malaysian driver, Azrul Zafri, then current Toro Rosso driver Roland Mótyán was selected to replace him at Force India. This left a further vacancy at the Italian manufacturer, a void that the team wanted Cah to fill. The Englishman was all to happy to oblige, and agreed to finish the season with Toro Rosso and halt his GP2 career for the time being.

Starting off in Hungary, Cah finished the year at Toro Rosso putting in a number of encouraging and strong drives in the uncompetitive car. Toro Rosso were suitably impressed by Cah's attitude and ability, offering a permanent drive for 2010.

Cah, not one to waste an opportunity, scored points in the cars first race in Australia which were his first in F1. He'd score points in 2 further Grand Prix, in China and Singapore, on his way to 18th in the standings ahead of his teammate Robert Ionescu.

Another successful year followed in 2011 with a series of strong drives including his first Podium in the sport at a chaotic Indian Grand Prix, Toro Rosso's first since 2008. Despite this, his teammate outraced him over the season as he also found the third step of the podium the following race in Abu Dhabi.

### Force India (2012-2014)

Cah's stock had rose significantly during the preceding years, and it was no surprise to see both Ionescu and Cah move on to pastures new for 2012. Cah joined Force India, the car was not especially fast but Cah was able to drag it to a number of strong finishes including two 5th places in Canada and Great Britain. This saw him to a 15th place finish and was the better placed Force India in the final standings.

Retained for 2013 and partnering new Indonesian prospect Rifky Fachrizain, Cah continued with his consistency in the Force India. However, he was outperformed by his new teammate and although he finished as high as 5th in Hungary, his teammate finished on the podium in the same race. Cah himself had been in contention before a strike of bad luck cost him. In the end, Fachrizain finished almost twice as many points ahead of Cah in the standings. Despite this Force India were still sufficiently impressed by the Brit and continued their partnership into a third season.

2014 was the season where Cah experienced his breakthrough. He had a superb season, retiring only twice that season and scoring 13 times out of the 19 races, a remarkable return for the midfield runner. Two podiums, a third in Austria and runner up in Singapore were the highlights, his second place was his best F1 finish to date. The team was rocked mid season however by the sudden retirement of Fachrizain who called time on his career following the Belgian Grand Prix. Michael Mocho replaced him for the rest of the year, but Cah outperformed them both on average on his way to 11th in the standings with almost 100 points.

### Williams (2015)

Handpicked by Williams to replace the outgoing Will Neller, Cah found the perfect place to hone his abilities with the team that had finished runners up to Mercedes the previous season, partnering charismatic Frenchman Romain Quag.

In 2014, Williams had surprised the paddock by recording 6 wins between Neller and Quag and runners up in the Constructors and Drivers Championship. More of the same was expected in 2015, however the n ew car flattered to deceive. Whilst still competitive, it was not on the level to win Grand Prix like the challengers from Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. Despite this, Cah seemed to have the edge on his teammate recording numerous high points scoring finishes in the opening rounds. He scored a memorable first podium for his new team in Canada behind the dominant Mercedes drivers. He then proceeded to score consecutive podiums in Germany and Hungary, the latter being a second place finish.

Shortly before the end of the year, Cah announced that he would be moving to Red Bull in 2016, thus ending his Williams involvement after only a season. He scored a farewell podium for the British outfit in Mexico on his way to finishing 5th in the standings, ahead of his teammate who had finished runner up the previous year. He was comfortably 'best of the rest' behind the class of the field Ferrari and Mercedes works cars, a fitting tribute to his endeavoring efforts over the course of the year.

### Red Bull (2016-17)

Cah's previous exposure and success at Toro Rosso had set him out as a future Red Bull driver as early as 2011. When a move failed to materialize , Cah looked for pastures new, and the successful career he forged in the wake of this earmarked him as a renewed contender for the seat when Robert Ionescu left the team at the conclusion of 2015.

Partnering veteran World Champion, Miklos Gál, it was clear that Cah would face his toughest teammate challenge yet. Nonetheless, he performed very admirably over the course of the year. Red Bull had made significant gains over the course of the off-season and the car was much more competitive than excpected. Cah was 3rd on his debut in Australia, behind his teammate and eventual race winner, Will Neller. Back to back second places in Bahrain and China, put him at the summit of the championship for the first time in his career and highlighted his immense rising talent.

3 comparatively poor races followed, with back to back retirements in Monaco and Canada, before the crowning achievement of the talented Englishman's career to that point followed in Baku. Starting on the front row, Cah got the jump on polesitter, Will Neller, and took complete control of the Grand Prix from there. He won his first Grand Prix in a stunning drive for someone only in their 8th Race at the team, and earned praise from all corners of the paddock. The remainder of his year was mixed, with a smattering of high points finishes and a couple of podiums, but no further victories as Red Bull's form dipped. He finished a strong Fourth overall in the standings however, and despite finished fractionally behind his teammate in the rankings, had fared well in his challenge against Gál, proving more than a match for the Hungarian legend on many occasions.

His strong form had proved to the bosses at Red Bull that the Brit was a key figure in their attempt at championship glory against the all powerful Mercedes cars that had won 17 of the years 21 races, and greatness was expected in 2017.

The season started as well as was physically possible, with Cah taking victory at the season opener in Australia. A further win in Spain followed to stamp the Englishman's authority in the championship as a bona fide front runner. A win in Baku where he had taken his maiden win a year previously, made him a very strong possibility for the title as he started making a habit of picking up results in races where cars ahead of him suffered issues or retired. His charge fizzled out in the middle of the year, but in contrast to his previous year he had the pace over Gál and was consistently outperforming him across all areas of the weekend.

Cah could not maintain a title charge and Red Bull faded away as Mercedes and Ferrari found ground initially lost at the start of the year. Nevertheless, Cah had performed to his best, notching 4 wins and 7 podiums in total, his teammate by comparison only scoring a single victory over the course of the year. He was again 'best of the rest' as Mercedes and Ferrari proved too tough to beat again.

After cementing his place at the forefront of the top tier, Cah was expected to maintain his spot at Red Bull for 2018. However, the re-shuffle at Mercedes that saw both their drivers depart at the end of 2017, meant that there were changes all the way down the grid. With Florian Völker deciding to move to the German marquee, a seat opened at Ferrari and with recommendation from both Völker and incumbent Ferrari driver, Joseph Willows, Cah was offered the drive to complete an all British lineup at the Scuderia, the first since 2006.

### Ferrari (2018-Present)

Following a resurgent 2017 campaign, where Willows came within an inch of a third title, Ferrari were expected to maintain a consistent challenge to Mercedes. After a mixed two opening races, Cah won in China for his first Ferrari win, leading home a 1-2 in the process. He then won the following round in Baku, the third time in a row that he had won that particular Grand Prix. A third win of the year came at the streets of Monaco, the first time Cah had won a jewel event on the F1 calendar.