Patterson started competition karting in 2011 at the Trent Valley Kart Club. From there he moved onto national championships, winning the Super 1 National and Formula Kart Stars series in 2015 and achieved victory at the Kartmasters British Grand Prix in 2016 in the Rotax Mini Max class. 2017 would become Patterson's most successful year to date: the Scot triumphed in the Trofeo delle Industrie and won the Karting World Championship on his first attempt.[3] He then raced in karts for two more seasons, with a notable success being victory in the WSK Super Master Series in 2019.[4]
Lower formulae
In 2020 Patterson made his single-seater debut with a one-off appearance in the first round of the Formula 4 UAE Championship with Xcel Motorsport.[5] Despite his lack of experience the Scot managed to finish all three races in the points, and ended up twelfth in the standings.[6]
Patterson's main campaign for that season would lie in the Italian F4 Championship, where he would partner Jesse Salmenautio and fellow rookies Zdeněk Chovanec and Sebastian Øgaard at Bhaitech.[7] He had a successful first round at Misano, where he got points in all three races, and he finished ninth in the following race at Imola.[8][9] The eight points Patterson scored through the first four races would unfortunately be his only points of the season, as the team struggled with reliability. Patterson ended up 22nd in the championship, behind all of his teammates. He finished 15th in the Rookies' standings.
BRDC British F3 Championship
For 2021 the Scot progressed into the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship, driving for Douglas Motorsport alongside Reema Juffali.[10] His first podium came at just his third race, with third place at the Brands Hatch Circuit.[11] The next round at Silverstone would bring controversy however, as Patterson was disqualified from the first two races and excluded from the third one after an altercation in the paddock with Bryce Aron, who had collided with the Scot in the second race.[12] Patterson bounced back in round three at Donington Park with three top ten finishes and a best result of fourth that weekend, but would withdraw from the following round at Spa-Francorchamps. He finished the season in 21st place, being one of 19 drivers to have scored a podium throughout the campaign.
Formula Regional European Championship
On the 20 July 2021 Monolite Racing announced that Patterson would be replacing the outgoing Jasin Ferati in the Formula Regional European Championship for the Spa-Francorchamps round.[13] He finished the first race in 19th place, but would go on to score his first points in just his second start, finishing seventh and bringing Monolite their first points of the year.
Formula One
In 2019 the karting division of the Sauber Junior Team signed Patterson for the Scot's final year of karting competition.[14] When Patterson moved up to single-seaters in 2020 he was confirmed to become part of the academy.[15] In February 2021, Patterson was released from the programme.[16]
(key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded – 2002–2003 all races, 2004–present just in first race) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded all races) * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap (1 point awarded – 2002 just in feature races, 2003–present all races)
