Who is Cian Shields? The Aston Martin debutant and son of millionaire with a controversial business

Aston Martin are set to have two rookies in their cars during FP1 at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with one of them an F1 session debutant.

British-Irish driver Cian Shields is set to make his debut around the Yas Marina Circuit, where he will replace two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in the first outing of the weekend.

That's despite that fact that Shields has not scored a single point across 23 F2 races this season, his first full campaign in the feeder series.

So where has he come from? And why is he being handed a debut over Aston Martin's other young stars?

Early life and career

Shields was born in Glasgow on March 7 2005, and he has dual British and Irish nationality.

He started karting in the junior categories at the age of 11 and by 2017, he was competing in IAME Cadets.

Shields' only karting championship victory came in 2019 in the IAME Series Benelux - X30 Junior category, but he didn't graduate into single-seater categories until 2022.

It was that year, aged just 17, that he competed in the GB3 Championship with Hitech Grand Prix, claiming a race victory in his first year.

In 2024, Shields graduated to F3 with Hitech Pulse-Eight, but did not score a single point across 20 races, and finished 30th in the F3 championship standings.

Nevertheless, AIX Racing took a gamble on the youngster and gave him his break in F2, at first for just four races in 2024, before handing him a full-time seat for the 2025 season.

Shields' F2 statistics

Across his only full-time season in F2 and his brief cameo in 2024, Shields has taken part in 27 F2 races, but he has not scored a single point.

Shields is currently down in 24th in the F2 championship with one round remaining, but he has been confirmed to be staying on with the team in 2026, partnering Emerson Fittipaldi Jr.

In preparation for a future potential session debut in F1, Shields took to the Monza track back in June with Aston Martin as part of their testing of previous cars programme (TPC).

He completed a private test in the team's 2023 car, and is now gearing up for his official session debut.

Who is Cian Shields' Dad?

Shields' father Seamus Shields is reportedly worth a whopping €59million, and runs Glasgow-based construction firm Advance Construction Group.

He employs over 700 people in that firm, and in 2020, featured on the Sunday Times Irish Rich List.

However, part of that group - Advance Construction Scotland - have recently been accused of allegedly flouting environmental laws, with The Sunday Times reporting that a category B listed building in Alloa was allegedly demolished by the firm before council permission was given.

On top of this, it's been revealed that since 2012, the company has received advisory letters and warnings relating to 13 separate incidents of alleged environmental mismanagement, including five 'final warnings' from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Advance Construction Scotland have contested the validity of two of those claims.

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