Warwick began in British stock car racing under the Spedeworth organisation, competing at tracks including Aldershot Stadium. He won the Superstox English Championship in 1971 at age 16 and the World Championship at Wimbledon Stadium in 1973. He finished runner-up in the 1978 British Formula 3 Championship.
Warwick began his Formula One career with Toleman for the 1981 season, debuting at the San Marino Grand Prix. He qualified for only one race that year — the season finale at Las Vegas. His 1982 and 1983 campaigns in the Toleman car were largely difficult, though he scored points in the final four rounds of 1983.
He joined Renault in 1984 after Alain Prost departed at the end of 1983. Leading the Brazilian Grand Prix on his first drive for the team, Warwick retired with a suspension failure caused by an early-race contact with Niki Lauda's McLaren. He finished second in both the Belgian and British Grands Prix in 1984 and placed seventh in the championship — four podiums overall. 1984 proved the beginning of the end for the factory Renault team; neither Warwick nor new teammate Patrick Tambay won a race, the first time since 1978 the team had failed to do so.
The pivotal decision of Warwick's career was staying at Renault for 1985 rather than accepting an offer from Williams-Honda. That seat went to Nigel Mansell, who won two races at the end of the season. Renault withdrew from Formula One at the end of 1985. Ayrton Senna also refused to accept Warwick as his teammate at Lotus, citing his belief that Lotus could not support two championship-contending drivers.
Left without a team for 1986, Warwick joined Tom Walkinshaw's TWR Jaguar team in the World Sportscar Championship. Following the death of Elio de Angelis in a testing accident in May, Bernie Ecclestone telephoned Warwick with an offer at Brabham, later explaining he had appreciated that Warwick had not contacted the team seeking the drive: "I got a phone call from Bernie, who said that he really appreciated the fact that I didn't call him five minutes after Elio had died and would I like to drive for him." With no scheduling conflicts between the two championships, Warwick raced in both in 1986.
In 1987 Warwick moved to Arrows alongside Eddie Cheever, scoring three championship points. The 1988 season brought improvement through the powerful Megatron engine — a re-badged BMW M12 unit restricted to 2.5 BAR boost — delivering 640 bhp. Arrows engine guru Heini Mader finally solved the FIA's mandatory pop-off valve problem during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, allowing both Warwick and Cheever to fully exploit that power for the first time since early 1987. Warwick finished fourth at Monza, half a second behind Cheever, and collected 17 points across the season, placing eighth in the championship with seven top-six finishes.
In 1989 two near-wins eluded Warwick. At the Brazilian Grand Prix dual pit-stop problems — a stuck rear wheel costing 18 seconds at the first stop and 25 seconds at the second, roughly ten seconds more than normal each time — cost him more than the 17-second margin to race winner Nigel Mansell; had both stops been clean he would likely have won by around ten seconds. At the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Warwick led the wet race before his Ford V8 engine failed on lap 40 while running in second place; Ayrton Senna, who had passed Warwick for the lead on lap 38, also retired three laps from the finish.
For 1990, four years after Senna's veto, Warwick finally drove for Lotus, which that season used the Lamborghini V12 engine. He described the unit as "all noise and no go" and noted the Lotus 102 chassis would flex under both power and braking. At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, his Lotus drifted wide on the last turn of the opening lap, collected the barrier at speed, rolled onto its side, and slid down the front straight; unhurt, Warwick ran back to the pits to take the spare car for the restart. He ended the season with three points.
In 1992 Warwick tested an IndyCar Lola T92/00 for Hall/VDS Racing at Mid-Ohio, assessing a possible CART move for 1993, but ultimately returned to Formula One.
For 1993 Warwick had offers from Jordan and Footwork and chose Footwork, returning after a three-year absence from the grid. He scored four points across the full season and retired with a career total of 71 Formula One points.
Warwick drove sports cars for Jaguar in 1986 and 1991 before winning the World Sportscar Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Peugeot in 1992.
In 1988 he made an appearance in the Celebrity Car at the inaugural Honda CR-X Challenge. He entered a two-car team in the 1990 Honda CR-X Challenge season; his drivers included Robin Brundle, who won at Castle Combe, and Roland Dane. Warwick raced himself at Donington Park, finishing fifth, and also ran his brother Paul in a few rounds.
Warwick raced in the British Touring Car Championship in 1995 driving for the Alfa Romeo works team. The team was underdeveloped that season; in the opening race at Donington Park, Warwick crashed and flying debris broke a TV camera lens — the incident was noted by BBC commentator Murray Walker, who quipped that Warwick owed them £6,000 for the damage.
After a year away, Warwick co-founded Triple Eight Racing with Roland Dane and took over the works Vauxhall BTCC entry for 1997, driving alongside established Vauxhall driver John Cleland. He won a wet race at Knockhill in 1998, then retired from racing at the end of that year.
In 2005 and 2006 Warwick competed in the inaugural Grand Prix Masters formula for retired Formula One drivers. He served as fourth steward — a role reserved for former drivers who advise the stewards panel on incidents — at three Grands Prix: the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix, the 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix, and the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix. He was president of the British Racing Drivers Club from 2011 to 2017, succeeding Damon Hill and preceding Paddy Hopkirk. He also deputised for Martin Brundle as Murray Walker's co-commentator on ITV for the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix. In 2015 Warwick received treatment for bowel cancer.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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