EXCLUSIVE: Meet the Red Bull Academy sensation who's surpassing Verstappen in the juniors

Verstappen during Florida Winter Series at Sebring — Photo: © IMAGO

GPFans Exclusive

EXCLUSIVE: Meet the Red Bull Academy sensation who's surpassing Verstappen in the juniors

One of the Red Bull Junior Team hoping to reach the top already has something that even Verstappen doesn't

Originally written by Jim Kimberley. This version is a translation.

Sunday 14 April 2024 03:00

Red Bull boasts the most successful Formula 1 driver pipelines, bringing race-winning stars like Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, and Carlos Sainz to the top.

The Red Bull Junior Team welcomed a new face in November 2023, Formula 3's Ollie Goethe.

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The 19-year-old racer already has something Verstappen never managed in his junior career — a feeder series championship — after winning the 2022 Euroformula Open title with an impressive 11 wins across the year.

Goethe doubled up that 2022 campaign with a cameo in F3, taking points on his debut after starting from pole at a soaking wet Hungaroring before making the full-time step up to the support billing in 2023.

2023: A year of triumph and trials

In an exclusive interview with GPFans, Goethe opened up about his season that saw Marko and Horner come calling, including his Feature Race win in front of the record-breaking British GP crowd and a heartbreaking formation lap failure in Monza.

"I expected the pace to be there, which it was. I had a few really, really strong weekends, like Bahrain, Budapest, and Silverstone, of course.

"Monza could have been better without the unfortunate issue in the Feature Race, but I still had pole position and a great Sprint Race.

"Then the other ones... the pace was strong. I didn't maximise what I could do fully. And in some cases, I made some, let's say, rookie mistakes and silly errors."

Nonetheless, Goethe delivered his Trident team the vice-champion title alongside Gabriel Bortoleto and Leonardo Fornaroli, just 21 points shy of Italian rivals PREMA.

F1 support

Discussing the unique experience of racing alongside F1, Goethe said: "Yeah, it's very special being a part of the F1 weekend.

"The atmosphere is always amazing. A big difference is the crowds and the support. The grandstands are almost always full, even for the F3 races."

His analysis of the season was candid and reflective: "It was a very up-and-down season. I feel like I always had the pace, just didn't have the consistency to fight for the championship."

Yet, despite these fluctuations, his raw pace and racing acumen shone through, earmarking him as a driver to watch, and Red Bull's attention followed in the months following F3's 2023 September finale and Helmut Marko brought him into the Junior Team.

Goethe moved from Trident to Campos for the 2024 season alongside Juan Pablo Montoya’s son Sebastián Montoya and Spaniard Mari Boya.

Formula 3 kicked off alongside the opening Formula 1 race in Bahrain, and joined F1 in Melbourne, too, with Goethe one of just two drivers to score points in all four 2024 races - consistent form that could see a championship charge by the finale in Monza.

Red Bull Max Verstappen Formula 1 Hungaroring