Red Bull unveil five junior drivers in F2 this year

Ian Parkes
Friday 14 January 2022 10:14

Red Bull will have a remarkable five junior drivers on the grid in F2 this season and a further three in F3.

The conveyor belt of talent at the Red Bull Junior Team shows no sign of slowing down, placing pressure on the likes of Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly, and in particular, Yuki Tsunoda to continue to perform in F1 this year.

Estonian Juri Vips and New Zealander Liam Lawson will enjoy a second season in F2 after finishing sixth and ninth in the drivers' standings last season.

While Vips remains with Hitech Grand Prix, Lawson switches from that team to Carlin that helped Tsunoda finish third in F2 in 2020 ahead of his promotion to F1 with AlphaTauri.

Lawson takes up a seat vacated by another Red Bull junior in Jehan Daruvala who joins PREMA hoping to land a third successive title for the team after championship success for Mick Schumacher in 2020 and Oscar Piastri last year.

It will be Daruvala's third season in F2 after finishing 12th two years ago and seventh in 2021, with the Indian driver joined at PREMA by Red Bull's reigning F3 champion Dennis Hauger from Norway.

Red Bull's F2 line-up is completed by Japanese Ayumu Iwasa who steps up from F3 after a year with DAMS with whom he won a race and finished 12th in the standings.

In F3, 16-year-old American Jak Crawford replaces Hauger at PREMA after spending his rookie year with Hitech; Briton Jonny Edgar moves from Carlin to title winners Trident, while French-Algerian Isack Hadjar steps in at Hitech.