Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Red Bull Juniors

  • Campos Racing sign Tsolov for 2026

    Campos Racing have announced their first driver signing for the 2026 Formula 2 season, with Nikola Tsolov set to race for the Spanish team next year.

    The 18 year old makes the step up to F2 after a stellar Formula 3 career, during which he secured five wins, the most by any driver in the Championship’s history.

    Two of those victories came with Campos this season and with another four podiums, he went on to finish second in the Drivers’ Championship.

    Prior to this year though, the Tsolov and Campos partnership proved to be a title-winning one when in 2022, the Bulgarian won the Spanish F4 Championship thanks to his 13 wins in 21 races.

    The Red Bull junior is now set to step up to F2 next season and he is delighted to be doing so with Campos.

    I am extremely happy to take the next step in my career and move up to FIA Formula 2 with Campos Racing once again. Together we have worked very hard and achieved success in both F4 Spain and FIA Formula 3, which gives me great confidence heading into next season. This is another step closer to my dream, and I will be pushing harder than ever to deliver strong results.
    Tsolov on the news.

    We are extremely proud to continue working with Nikola for another year. He is very much one of our own, having taken his very first steps in single-seaters with Campos Racing. In the two seasons he has raced with us, he has been a champion and a runner-up, which are clear credentials of his outstanding talent. A Formula 2 car is, of course, another level, but despite his youth he already has a wealth of single-seater experience, displays great maturity, and we are confident he will also make his mark in FIA Formula 2.
    Adrian Campos Jr, Campos Racing Team Principal.

  • HiTech confirm line-up for 2023

    HiTech Grand Prix will be fielding an all-Red Bull Junior driver line-up for the 2023 season, announcing that Isack Hadjar and Jak Crawford will be graduating to Formula 2.

    Both are familiar faces to the British team, with the pair having previously driven for them in Formula 3 – Crawford in 2021 and Hadjar most recently in 2022 – as well as getting their first taste of F2 machinery at post-season testing in Yas Marina last November.

    18 year old Hadjar, arrives off the back of a fourth-place finish in F3 last year. A title contender all the way to the final round, he managed to clinch three wins and a further two podiums.

    I’m really excited to be part of the Red Bull Junior team and continue this journey with Hitech for another year. Hopefully we can win some more races and have a strong season together.

    Hadjar on his seat for 2023.

    Meanwhile Crawford returns to HiTech after a year away, the American finished his debut F3 campaign 13th in the standings before switching to PREMA Racing for the 2022 season.

    There he scored one win and four podiums to take seventh, helping the Italian team to the Teams’ Championship title, alongside fellow 2023 graduates Oliver Bearman and Arthur Leclerc.

    I am delighted to be back with Hitech for my first season of Formula 2. It will be a tough season with a strong grid but I am looking forward to what lies ahead.

    Crawford on his seat.

    We are excited to field once again two cars in FIA Formula 2 in Red Bull Junior Team colours, especially with two such promising young talents. Isack we saw first hand his last year as a rookie in Formula 3 and Jak we know him well from his first F3 season with us in 2021.

    Oliver Oakes, HiTech Team Principal.

  • Montoya steps up to F3

    Sebastian Montoya will be joining HiTech Grand Prix for his first FIA Formula 3 campaign this season. The 17 year-old is part of the Red Bull Junior Team, freshly signed ahead of the 2023 season.

    The Colombian made two appearances last year across the Zandvoort race weekend with Campos Racing and tested with HiTech in Jerez in last year’s post-season test.

    Montoya graduated from karting in 2020 to Italian Formula 4. he finished the season 11th in the standings and competed in six races in ADAC Formula 4. The same programme followed the next year, improving to fourth in the Italian Championship in 2021, taking two pole positions and nine podiums across the season.

    In 2022, Montoya competed in the Formula Regional Asian Championship ahead of the European season beginning, winning twice and finishing seventh in the Drivers’ Standings. His step up from F4 to Formula Regional European Champioship by Alpine with PREMA Racing was a tough one, but he ended the season 13th on 44 points.

    During 2022, his two F3 appearances in Zandvoort with Campos where he acquitted himself very well, finishing both the Sprint and Feature races in eighth position.

    We will all work together to have a great year and fight at the front consistently. I just want to say thank you to my family and everyone else involved. Let’s bring on the season and give it everything.

    Montoya on his seat.

  • Carlin confirm 2023 line-up

    Carlin has confirmed its FIA Formula 2 line-up for the 2023 season, with Enzo Fittipaldi switching to the team, as well as FIA F3 graduate and vice champion, Zane Maloney.

    Both drivers, are newly announced Red Bull Junior Team drivers for the 2023 season and arrive at Carlin after successful 2022 campaigns.

    Fittipaldi already has one full F2 season under his already with Charouz Racing System in ’22, where he took six podium finishes on the way to finish eighth in the Drivers’ Championship.

    He first moved to single seater racing full time in 2017, racing in the Italian F4 Championship and finishing 9th. He then followed that up with a full season in Italian and ADAC F4 in 2018 finishing 1st and 3rd respectively.

    The Brazilian then went on to finish second in Formula Regional European Championship with two wins and 13 podiums to his name in 2019. Moving to FIA F3 in 2020 brought a difficult spell in 2020, with HWA Racelab in 2020 and Charouz Racing System in 2021. Fittipaldi was promoted to Charouz’s F2 team mid mid-way through ’21 but suffered a serious accident in Jeddah at the penultimate round of the year.

    He rebounded from that setback though in style, putting together a strong F2 season with multiple podiums and fighting for top rookie honours.

    I’m extremely excited to be joining Carlin and as well to be part of the Red Bull family for the 2023 season. It’s an amazing opportunity and I can’t wait for the first race weekend in Bahrain.

    Fittipaldi on his announcement.

    Maloney arrives at Carlin after one of his best seasons in racing. He sparked a late title bid with three-consecutive Feature race wins to close the season, ending up only just five points from glory.

    He has worked with the team previously, winning the British F4 Championship in his first year of single seater racing back in 2019.

    In 2020, he moved to Euroformula Open with the British outfit, finishing that year’s season eighth. Moving to Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2021, winning once and achieving seven podiums on the way to fourth.

    The Bajan driver stepped up to FIA Formula 3 with Trident last year, and after a tough spell at the start of the campaign, transformed his season. He took three wins and four podiums, in the final four races made Maloney an unlikely title contender. His efforts won him FIA Rookie of the Year in 2022.

    Joining Carlin in F2 and to do so as part of the Red Bull Junior Team is a fantastic opportunity after my first year of F3 last season. I’m re-joining a team I know extremely well and have won a championship with before in F4. I’ve seen first-hand how strong the team are in F2 and we had a great test together last year in Abu Dhabi. To embark on this journey in Red Bull colours is a dream come true and I’m incredibly excited to get the season underway in Bahrain next month.

    Maloney on his new seat.

    As a Team boss, Enzo and Zane are a dream pairing with both experience and potential. Enzo was a driver who really caught our attention last year and will be looking to build on the strong results he had in his rookie season. Zane was incredibly impressive in his rookie season of F3 and it’s fantastic to welcome him back to Carlin. He certainly needs to focus on building his experience in the first half of the season but I think by the mid-way point we’ll start to see some real flashes of potential.

    Trevor Carlin, Team Principal.

  • Sebastian Montoya joins RB Juniors

    Sebastian Montoya, son of ex-Formula 1 driver, Juan Pablo has joined Red Bull’s Junior Team for 2023, as he looks to follow in his fathers footsteps.

    Juan Pablo spent six years competing in F1 from 2001 to 2006, initially representing Williams and then later on McLaren – taking seven victories, 30 podiums and best finish of third in the drivers’ standings.

    Now, Sebastian is forging his own motorsport career and having risen up the karting ranks, made his single-seater debut in 2020, contesting in both ADAC Formula 4 and Italian Formula 4 Championships with Prema.

    The Colombian-American racer stayed in both categories for the 2021 season, placing fourth overall in Italian F4 and ninth in ADAC F4, bagging his first podiums in the process.

    Last year, the 17 year old added campaigns in the Asian and European Formula Regional categories, along with selected LMP2 outings in the IMSA SportsCar Championship alongside his father, as well as a points-scoring appearance in FIA F3.

    Excited to announce I am now part of Red Bull’s Official Junior Team. This past year, I became part of the brand’s athletes and now we will work together for the ultimate goal: F1.

    Montoya took to social media announcing the news.

  • Teams junior drivers part 2

    Not every team in F1 has a junior programme in place, due to money etc. Other teams piggy back of others e.g Haas obviously has Mick Schumacher as a driver but he is from the FDA.

    Williams-

    Jamie Chadwick has been apart of the Williams academy since 2019 and she has won two titles both being the W series, in 2019 and 2021. The 23 year old has also won the MRF Challenge in 2018-2019 as well as British GT Championship in 2015. It is unknown what she will be doing this year.

    Next we have Roy Nissany, who is going into his fourth Formula 2 season with DAMS. The Israeli-French driver has been Williams offical test driver for the 2020 and 2021 season, where he also has took part in FP1 sessions and the post-season test with the British team.

    Jack Aitken, is another Williams academy driver, he has been with the team since 2020.  Before this he was actually with the Renault young driver program until 2019 he was also their reserve driver. Aitken made his debut for the British team at the Sakhir Grand Prix where he stood in George Russell as Russell stood in for Lewis Hamilton due to COVID.

    Next up is Logan Sargeant. This year he will be moving up to Formula 2 for his first full season, he joined F2 last year for a weekend with HWA Racelab. In 2020 the American finished 3rd in the Formula 3 Championship.

    Last but most definitely not least is newbie, Zak O’Sullivan, the Brit is moving up to Formula 3 this year after winning the GB3 Championship and has just been awarded the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award for 2021.

    Red Bull-

    Juri Vips, has been apart of the Red Bull junior programme since 2018. In 2020 he joined Formula 2 to replace injured DAMS driver, Sean Gelael. In 2021 he then done his first full campaign with HiTech Grand Prix, he will be returning to Formula 2 this year with the same team for his second season. Also in 2020 he served as the Red Bull and Alpha Tauri reserve at the Turkish, Bahrain, Sakhir and Abu Dhabi GP’s. He has took part in two end of season young driver test both being with Red Bull in 2020 and 2021.

    Jonny Edgar, is defintley a name to remeber and one I have mentioned before. His been with the junior team for quite some time and its understandable why his stayed their for so long. He won the ADAC Formula 4 Championship, and is about to go into his 2nd season of Formula 3 Championship.

    Dennis Hauger, the popular Norwegian who has just won the Formula 3 Championship and now going on to battle the Formula 2 Championship with Prema. Since being with the junior team he has also won the Italian F4 Championship.

    Liam Lawson, is going into his second season in Formula 2 after switching out HiTech for Carlin. The popular Kiwi never does things in half, last year he competed in DTM where he finished 2nd overall. In 2020 he competed in F3 where he finished 5th overall, as well as Toyota Racing Series where he finished 2nd.

    Jehan Daruvala is reuniting with Prema this season to take on his 3rd season of Formula 2 last season saw him finish 7th overall with Carlin. He also competed in F3 Asian Championship with Mumbai Falcons India Racing, he finished 3rd overall, with 3 wins, 3 poles, and 8 podiums.

    Jak Crawford, has been with the junior team since 2020 and in that year he competed in ADAC Formula 4 where he finished 2nd overall and Italian F4 finishing 6th. 2021 saw him compete in his rookie campaign in Formula 3 and Euroformula Open and in the latter he finished 3rd overall. This year he is competing in his second season in Formula 3 but has made the switch to Prema.

    At the beginning of last year, Ayumu Iwasa was announced as a Red Bull junior. He competed in Formula 3 where he finished 12th overall as well as F3 Asian Championship where he finished 3rd. This year will see him step up to Formula 2 for his rookie season.

    Next up, we have two newbies who have joined the programme this year, Isack Hadjar who will be competing in Formula 3 for his rookie campaign and Yuto Nomura who will be competing in French F4.

    Ferrari-

    Starting off with Callum Ilott, he technically isn’t with the Ferrari Driver Academy this year but had a 4 year stint with the Italian team from 2017 to 2021. Due to him being in IndyCar this year, the Academy does not support that series.

    Robert Shwartzman at the moment is not competing in a series this year yet, after he finished runner up to Oscar Piastri in Formula 2 last year. He will be Scuderia Ferrari’s Test Driver for the upcoming season.

    Mick Schumacher, won the Formula 2 Championship in 2020, and now is going into his second season as a Formula One driver with Haas.

    Arthur Leclerc is next up on the list, the Monagasque is going into his second season in Formula 3, in hopes to fight for the title. He is also currently competing in the Formula Regional Asian Championship which he is currently leading.

    Dino Beganovic, will be going on to his third season in single seaters, where he is currently competing in Formula Regional Asian Championship and also Formula Regional European Champion.

    James Wharton, has only been with the FDA for a year, he continued to race in karts in 2021 before training in Formula 4 single-seaters. Which goes on to what he will be doing this year, he will be competing in Formula 4 UAE Championship and Italian F4 Championship.

    Maya Weug, is the first female driver to join the FDA. In 2021 she stepped up to Italian F4 Championship, she will be competing in the same series again this year.

    Oliver Bearman, is new to the FDA after winning both Italian F4 Championship and ADAC Formula 4 Championships in 2021. This year will see him step up to the Formula 3 Championship for his rookie season.

    Rafael Camara is another newbie to the FDA, he will be competing in Formula 4 UAE Championship and Italian F4 Championship. Laura Camps Torras, is new to the Italian team as well, at the moment she has only raced in karts and will continue to do this year. However, she will take part in several tests at the wheel of a Formula 4 car to learn about single seaters in preparation for a debut.

    Alpine-

    Christian Lundgaard, has been apart of the Alpine academy since 2017. Since being with them he secured the SMP F4 Championship and F4 Spanish Championship. This year will see him race in IndyCar.

    Caio Collet, was racing in Formula 3 last season. It is yet to be announced in what he will be doing this year he may return to F3 for a second season.

    Oscar Piastri, the back to back to back champion, winning the Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula 3 Championship and Formula 2 Championship in a row. This year will see him take a back seat and officially be Alpine’s reserve driver for 2022.

    Victor Martins, will be going into his fourth year with the academy. Last year saw him compete in Formula 3 where he finished 5th overall, it is still undecided what he is doing this year aswell.

  • Should GAS go back?

    So one of the main thing I feel like gets talked about in F1 whether there are spare seats or not, is whether Pierre Gasly will ever return to Red Bull?…

    Since Daniel Ricciardo left RB back in the 2018 season, its been no lie that the other Red Bull seat has been hard to fill with them now being on their third driver in three years.

    It started off with Pierre, but unfortunatley he only lasted 12 races, and Alex Albon got brought in for the rest of 2019 season and the full 2020 season. Sergio Perez is now the third driver to be in that seat for this year and then his got a contract extension till then end of the ’22 season.

    It’s no lie that Pierre thinks he should be in that second seat, even more so now that his got a win with Alpha Tauri, and he is putting consistent results in almost every weekend and pulling everything out of the Alpha Tauri.

    Gasly admitted that he felt over looked for 2022 promotion speaking to Canal Plus, he recently said: “I felt based on this year I could have deserved a better chance, but that is the decision, it doesn’t stop my motivation.”

    My Opinion-

    I feel like this is a tough one, Pierre obviously thinks a lot of Red Bull still even after everything so of course he is going to stay loyal to them. But theres a time when you say enough is enough.

    Pierre is still contracted to RB till the end of 2023, so I don’t know whether he waits till then to leave RB all together or wait and see if he gets a drive for Red Bull for the 2023 season, but he wont be the only one hoping for a drive then, Alex Albon wants to be a contender for the RB seat in 2023, and if you look into the feeder series, you’ve got RB juniors in there such as, Juri Vips, Liam Lawson, Dennis Hauger, Jack Doohan and many others who will be looking to fill that seat or the Alpha Tauri seats…

    I personally don’t see him going back to Red Bull, which is a shame but I do think he will be in a top car in the next few years, which I can’t wait to see!