Photo: Mercedes-AMG F1

The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team has announced two new junior drivers, and the signing of Theo Pourchaire.

F1 work will be dovetailed by Pourchaire with racing for Peugeot in the World Endurance Championship’s top Hypercar class.

Since winning the 2023 Formula 2 title aged 20 and as a protege of Sauber, Pourchaire has raced at single-seaters’ top level but has been unable to do so full-time in any of those paddocks. He started off by graduating to Super Formula in early 2024, but gave up his seat at Team Impul after just one race to pursue IndyCar opportunities with McLaren.

Pourchaire had been called up for two races there as a stand-in for an injured driver. Having impressed the team, Pourchaire was offered a full-time seat (excluding the Indianapolis 500) and he dropped his SF seat to accept it. But the arrangement only lasted 40 days, as McLaren replaced him with paying fellow rookie Nolan Siegel who signed on a multi-year deal.

Having relocated to the USA, Pourchaire ended up only doing six IndyCar races with McLaren. Through 2024 he was also reserve driver for the Alfa Romeo Racing F1 team operated by Sauber. Despite ending his Swiss residency, which had provided proximity to Sauber’s headquarters, Pourchaire was able to continue his duties at several races (but with no free practice outings) until the end of 2024 when he left to join Peugeot as its test and development driver.

His 2025 contract also meant serving as Peugeot’s reserve driver when required (for example if the regular reserve driver had been called up to race), leading to him making his WEC debut in the season-ending Eight Hours of Bahrain. He finished 10th, and earned a full-time race seat for 2026. Pourchaire has also contested two Formula E practice sessions.

Frederik Vesti, the driver that Pourchaire beat to the F2 crown, has been promoted by Mercedes from the reverse driver role to being the F1 team’s ‘third driver’ this year, while junior team graduate Doriane Pin and new signings Joshua Duerksen and Pourchaire will share the simulator (in Britain) and trackside responsibilities of development drivers.

Mercedes has also announced that its junior Kenzo Craigie will race in E4 and Italian Formula 4 this year, after recently coming third in UAE4 as a single-seater rookie, while former rival James Anagnostiadis remains in senior and shifter karting.

The four drivers departing the junior team’s ranks were revealed in January, and after some overalls-fuelled speculation it has been confirmed that 11-year-old karters Niccolo Perico and Devin Titz join for 2026.

Perico currently leads the WSK Super Master Series in the OK-N Junior class after winning the first three rounds, and in mini karting last year the Italian won the Champions of the Future Academy Program, WSK Final Cup and WSK SMS titles.

Titz, from Germany, is still in mini karting. He sits sixth in WSK SMS, and was fourth in the 2024 German championship.

The post Mercedes-AMG F1 team signs Pourchaire, adds two karters as juniors appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Top Speed

Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Kenzo Craigie claimed his maiden car racing pole and win today in UAE4.

The R-ace GP driver was quickest in the first qualifying session at Dubai Autodrome, then a few hours converted pole into victory.

Craigie claimed top spot in qualifying by 0.199 seconds, having previously been 0.531s clear of team-mate Andy Consani before Mumbai Falcons driver Sasha Bondarev posted a last-lap improvement to snatch second.

Mumbai Falcons’ Niccolo Maccagnani was 0.759s slower than Craigie in fourth, with Scott Lindblom (Hitech GP), David Cosma Cristofor (Prema), Alp Aksoy Hasan (Mumbai Falcons) and Emily Cotty (R-ace) the only other drivers within a second of pole.

The six drivers entered by Xcel Motorsport, the fastest of which was Jarrett Clark in 12th, had their cars co-run by Virtuosi Racing. Best known for its title-winning time in Formula 2, which it dropped off the grid of last year when Invicta Watch Group bought out its entry after previously investing in the team, Virtuosi now races solely in British Formula 4.

One of their contingent, the debuting Roman Felber, was eliminated in a dramatic start to race one. He and Lindblom stalled, with Lindblom’s car being struck by Nasser Al Thani (QMMF by Hitech) whose wrecked car then went spinning.

It led to the safety car being called out mid-lap, and the field heading through the pitlane at the end of the first two laps. On lap four Emma Felbermayr (PHM Racing) and Elia Weiss (R-ace) pulled up next to the pit exit and retired, and the restart was not until lap seven.

Craigie had swept to the inside at the start, which was very dusty, and Bondarev cut the first few corners but rejoined the track in second after using the escape road. He then forced Craigie into defence down the back straight before racing was neutralised.

On the restart, Craigie weaved down the pit straight again and Bondarev had another off at turn two. He held his position once more though, soaking up pressure from Consani. They got close to each other at the end of the back straight, and Bondarev’s attention then switched to Craigie.

He had eradicated his 1.2s lead by lap nine, and his look into the inside at the end of the back straight led to Craigie locking up. Another overtaking attempt was made a few corners later, and Craigie was defensive on the back straight through the next two laps. Bondarev had another lunge on the final tour, getting right onto Craigie’s gearbox, but could not get past and the results were taken from the end of lap 10.

Cosma tried taking fourth from Maccagnani on lap eight, and two laps later Maccagnani defended against him on the run to turn one. Aksoy finished sixth, Hitech’s Theo Palmer overtook Cotty for seventh on lap eight, and Pinnacle Motorsport’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling finished ninth on-the-road but got a penalty for jumping the start.

Race results (10 laps)

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Photo: Ida Wood

French team R-ace GP has announced in full its five-car line-up for the upcoming UAE4 season.

Its first signing to be revealed was Elia Weiss. Over the weekend, four more team-mates have been named.

Two of those are Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 juniors, with Andy Consani and car racing debutant Kenzo Craigie continuing an association with the team that began in 2025.

Craigie drove in five major Formula 4 tests with R-ace last year as he prepared for the step up from senior karting. On the OK class of karts the 15-year-old Briton won the Champions of the Future title, was fifth in the CIK-FIA World Karting Championship, ninth in WSK’s Super Master Series and 10th in the European championship.

Consani’s primary programme in 2025 was French F4. His season began with pole position and a third place finish, but there were no more podiums and after missing the last third of the began he dropped to 13th in the standings.

Once he dropped his French F4 commitments, the 15-year-old Frenchman joined R-ace for the last two rounds of both E4 and Italian F4. In the former he scored twice to come 18th in the championship, and in the latter he was a points-free 32nd in the standings but ahead of eight full-timers including team-mate Emily Cotty and Weiss.

Cotty will continue to be part of its line-up in UAE4, which she also raced in last year when it was known as F4 Middle East. She scored three points en route to 21st in the standings, while she was points-free in E4 and Italian F4. The 16-year-old Briton also cameoed in the Formula Winter Series and finished 13th in the FIA F4 World Cup which was held in Macau.

The fifth and final of R-ace’s signings is Tomika Gender (otherwise known as Tamas Gender Jr). He also tested with the team in 2025, and in the OK kart class came 32nd in the WSK SMS standings as a driver in Victor Martins’ Victory Lane squad.

The post R-ace GP to run two of Mercedes-AMG’s F1 juniors in UAE4 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FIA Karting

Round one of the CIK-FIA European championship at Campillos was a breakthrough event for two karting talents.

Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior James Anagnostiadis won the senior OK category, but for much of the weekend it looked like Formula 2 racer Victor Martins’ protege Chiara Battig would be victorious.

The 15-year-old Swiss was in the Alpine F1 team’s female-focused Rac(H)er programme in 2023, but departed it for 2024. Although she won a third successive Swiss championship on OK Junior karts, she lacked results abroad until November when she joined Martins and his brother Nicolas’s Victory Lane team for the step up to senior karting.

Two eye-catching outings raised expectations for 2025, but bad luck masked Battig’s pace earlier this year. That changed at Campillos on Friday, as with slick tyres on a damp track she set “a perfect lap” to take pole. Anagnostiadis was ninth, 0.411 seconds off the pace, and VDK Racing’s Thibaut Ramaekers and Tony Kart’s Thomas Pradier topped the other qualifying groups in slippier conditions.

Anagnostiadis and Battig also ran in the same heats, and in a wet first race Ramaekers comfortably beat both. Anagnostiadis climbed seven places to beat Battig to second.

Battig won and Anagnostiadis was third in their next two heats, Forza Racing’s Filippo Sala denied Battig victory in their fourth heat then she rebounded to comfortably beat Anagnostiadis and Sala as they shared the podium in their final heat.

Anagnostiadis’s Mercedes stablemate and Prema team-mate Kenzo Craigie was 14th in his qualifying group, but recovered to make fifth his average finishing position in the heats.

Battig built a lead from pole in superheat A, with Anagnostiadis and Craigie starting second and sixth. McLaren junior Dries Van Langendonck got into second and Craigie gained two spots on lap one.

Craigie utilised fresh tyres to make three passes in the next three laps, but his hesitant then crash-causing lap four move on Battig ended her race. He rode over her hand too, and after winning by two seconds was disqualified so Anagnostiadis inherited victory.

Ramaekers led lights-to-flag in superheat B, which combined with three heat wins denied Anagnostiadis pole for the final, with the confident Battig starting eighth. Kart Republic’s reigning champion Joe Turney had such a bad weekend that he failed to make the 19-lap final.

Van Langendonck passed Anagnostiadis on lap one of the decisive race, then Fusion Motorsport’s Zac Drummond cleared him too. But as Anagnostiadis “did not expect at all to win”, he was taking it easy and was aware of a puncture risk.

Van Langendonck took the lead at the penultimate corner on lap eight, with Drummond behind Anagnostiadis and Sala. Soon Ramaekers was losing further ground, and Forza’s Jensen Burnett got involved before he punctured.

Kart Republic’s Iacopo Martinese, from 14th on the grid, passed Sala for third on lap 12, and Anagnostiadis claimed the lead a lap later. He then pulled away as punctures ended Drummond and Martinese’s victory hopes, and Van Langendonck held off Sala for second at the finish.

But a bumper penalty demoted Sala to 10th, so a late charge from Parolin’s pre-event favourite Christian Costoya earned him third ahead of Ramaekers and Battig.

Final results (19 laps)

The post Victor Martins’ karting protege stars as European Championship begins appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: KSP Reportages

F1 teams are signing younger drivers as juniors under the logic that early investments provide scope to benefit from greater long-term returns. But they’re not just investments, they’re also ambitious youngsters

Formula Scout’s eye-opening trip into the World Karting Championship paddock this September made one thing abundantly clear like never before: motorsport is more about money than talent, and particularly in karting.

It was over rather than under-exposure to the abundance of money in the industry that made it such a stark realisation. The feel-good stories are about underfunded talents or those without the industry backing that reflects their talent and work ethic, and nobody really celebrates a rich kid being quick. Particularly when others are still quicker than them.

A driver with “a lack of funding” usually means they don’t have access to other people’s money, whether that be sponsors or benefactors. Most self-funded drivers are competing in club racing for fun rather than chasing a racing career with the money they earn from their day jobs, and the money needs to appear before they can race rather than the other way around.

Before the post-pandemic boom of the ‘creator’, gaming and influencer industries, teenagers rarely had jobs providing a level of income they could spend on something as expensive as motorsport. While that has now changed, it’s still parent power that rules in the financial stakes.

More money equals more track time and better equipment, which lead to improved driving and improved results respectively. That ultimately makes those drivers more attractive prospects to sponsor and support since they’re getting the results that makes financial investments in their career worthwhile, and are also further along the development curve than their peers with less track time. The [children of the] rich generally get richer, and faster.

For second-generation talents you then have name appeal and politics getting involved, which can work for or against trying to get their own name known and attracting backers. Even the performance-focused Formula 1 teams aren’t immune to the appeal of being able to boast they have the ‘son or daughter of’ in their ranks.

All of the above factors into how the current crop of karters who are also F1 juniors earned those allegiances, but aren’t factors controlled by the drivers themselves. In fact, they’re a friendly and thankfully quite down-to-earth bunch of teenagers. Let’s introduce them:

Key (2024 stats)

WSK: Champions Cup (CC), Euro Series (Euro), Final Cup (FC), Open Series (OS), Super Master Series (SMS), Super Cup (SC)
CIK-FIA: European championship (CIK European), World championship (CIK Worlds), World Cup (FIA WC), Karting Academy Trophy (FIA Academy Trophy)
Rotax Max Challenge: Euro Trophy (Euro), International Trophy (Int. Trophy), Grand Finals
IAME: Euro Series (Euro), Warriors Final (WF), Winter Cup (WC)
Champions of the Future (CotF)

Dries Van Langendonck McLAREN 14y/o
OK 22nd in Worlds   OK-J CIK European champion, CotF champion, 2nd in WSK CC, 2nd in WSK SMS, 7th in WSK Euro

Photo: McLaren

Van Langendonck won the biggest race in junior karting last year, and was runner-up in Champions of the Future – arguably the biggest series at this level – on second place countback.

There wasn’t really much he could do better in 2024 on an OK Junior kart as older rivals stepped up, and he promptly began the year with second place in the WSK Champions Cup, then won CotF and the CIK-FIA European championship, as well as being runner-up in the very competitive WSK Super Master Series.

His CotF title came despite ‘missing’ the final round at PF International to race in the OK class there instead as he had just turned 14. He finished sixth on debut, putting him 24th in the standings, and on his return to the track a week later he starred in the soaking rain. Van Langendonck’s average finishing position in his heats was 3.6, but he lost ground in his superheat and retired from the final in truly treacherous conditions. The Forza Racing driver had more than made his mark.

“I think it was probably when I won the world championships [that McLaren first got in contact],” he says. “My name got a bit on the radar, so that’s when we started talking with a few people. And mostly the beginning of the year that the big talks were [happening], then it all started to come around.

“I’ve just got a good manager in Infinity Sports Management and they talk about it. And also [McLaren] watch my racing. But it’s mostly through Infinity. I think [my 2025 plan is] OK, at the moment. So at the moment still in senior, then after that we’ll see what we’re going to do.

“[Today’s races was you] probably overtake or be overtaken. That’s how I can only describe it. There was no waiting about whatsoever. But when you’re in this sort of midpack, it’s always going to be tough. But it’s quite funny. And PFI is definitely up there on one of my favourite tracks. Really a good event for the world championship. So I enjoy driving around this track.”

Kenzo Craigie MERCEDES-AMG 14y/o
OK-J World champion, 3rd in CotF, 19th in CIK European  X30 Jr 4th in British championship, 20th in IAME Euro

Photo: Ida Wood

Craigie became the 2024 world champion on OK-J karts in the most dramatic on-track way possible, by colliding with Prema team-mate Noah Baglin at the final corner on the last lap. Baglin did not take the defeat well in the immediate aftermath, having held the lead from lap two onwards in the extreme wet.

At the 2022 British Kartmasters Grand Prix, Craigie won in the Honda Cadet class and was also handed an outing with Argenti Motorsport in the Waterswift class. He impressed team boss Ron Meadows, who is also sporting director of the Mercedes-AMG F1 team, who signed him to his karting team for 2023 and convinced his Mercedes colleagues to do the same.

He has remained with both ever since, and also joined Prema this year so he could race in Europe.

“It’s been really good [at Prema]. They’re a really good team,” Craigie says of the Kart Republic customer squad. Leading the manufacturer on OK karts is Joe Turney, who has lent his hand to helping the OK-J runners but “not necessarily too much”, Craigie adds.

“We already run off our own data, really. Because we don’t really interact with the seniors that much. But everyone in here’s quite fast, so it’s always good to compare against everyone. There were not really targets [for 2024], just do your best. And obviously when you do our best, it’s going to be good. So just that sort of stuff.”

Formula Scout was then the first media to speak to Craigie after he was crowned world champion.

“It’s an amazing feeling, and I can’t think anybody who’s helped me enough,” he said, before referring to his pace advantage in the bridge section of the lap that was key to him hunting down Baglin. “I think everyone just braked a little bit too much and I was able to just carry the speed a little bit more, so yeah, it was good through there.”

“[In the last laps] obviously there’s a lot of pressure, but I was just trying to get my laptimes in. I made a couple of mistakes, but I got there in the end.”

Luna Fluxa MERCEDES-AMG 14y/o
OK 30th in CIK European, 48th in CIK Worlds, 56th in CotF   OK-N currently 1st in CotF Academy Program

Photo: IAME Euro Series

Now also a member of the female-led Iron Dames programme, Fluxa is a refreshingly bouncy character whose enthusiasm for karting rubs off on the people she’s talking to.

Fluxa is part of a motorsport family, since her two older brothers – Lorenzo and Lucas – also race and therefore she’s had two great references to learn from each time she steps up a class on the karting ladder.

Her rookie season at the senior level has lacked in many of the bigger competitions, but she rose 10 places in the opening round of the European championship on home soil at Valencia to finish 11th, with the points earned from that putting her 30th in the standings by season-end.

The new CotF Academy Program series has been where she has shone the most this year, winning two rounds in the OK-N class to lead the points.

James Anagnostiadis MERCEDES-AMG 13y/o
OK-J 2nd in CIK Worlds   OK-N Jr currently 1st in CotF Academy Program

Anagnostiadis wouldn’t have been Europe-bound were it not for sister Aiva being supported by the Alpine F1 team’s Rac(H)er programme. That led to contacts being made on the opposite side of the planet to his home country Australia, and he was very quietly announced (as in not announced at all) as a Mercedes junior in July.

He won a CotF Academy Program event on an OK-N Junior kart last year, and like Mercedes’ other proteges has driven for Argenti and Prema. That did not lead to a single result of note until the world championship, where he had an average finishing position in the heats of 4.2, came third in his superheat and then an unexpected second in the final after misfortune hit others. The result on its own was not enough to put a smile on his face in the press conference afterwards.

“It’s really good,” a deadpan Anagnostiadis said of his surprise result. “I’ve had a pretty tough year. Not really getting any, basically any good results in CotF. And a couple okay finishes in the Europeans. But this is a really good way to end the year. It’s really good to have me and Kenzo both one-two, and hopefully we’re at the front a lot more together.”

“I wasn’t too worried [about the wet]. We had to a couple of good heats in the dry yesterday, and also last weekend had a really good day in the wet. So I wasn’t too stressy if it was wet or dry. But obviously the first couple of laps I was a bit nervous, having been to my first world championship up the front, and sort of overdrove a bit, and then was able to come back at the end of the race.”

Rocco Coronel RED BULL 14y/o
OK-J 3rd in CIK Worlds, 4th in WSK CC, 5th in CotF, 12th in CIK European, 18th in WSK SMS   X30 Jr 4th in IAME WC

Formula Scout understands at least one other F1 team had expressed interest in Coronel before he signed with Red Bull, and that the relationship between his father Tom, Red Bull Junior Team chief Dr Helmut Marko and the Verstappen family were inevitably factors swirling around in the background while Coronel tried to impress Red Bull on track in its shootout test.

Coronel was already a protege of Alpine junior Victor Martins and brother Nicolas, as he drives for their Victory Lane team, and rather unusually for a driver at the junior karting level he already has a recognisable driving style and pattern in his form.

According to Coronel, he had no contact with Red Bull himself until he was at Jerez driving a Formula 4 car at the shootout. The company had first formally approached his father at Zandvoort, but the 1997 Masters Formula 3 champion had already held conversations with Marko about signing his son due to their existing relationship.

The then-13-year-old did not know what to expect when entering the shootout, and Red Bull was as interested in his planned schedule for 2025 as how he was performing on track. Coronel is already Victory Lane’s project, and Red Bull wanted to know if it had any ‘long-term’ plans for him. The team also has connections to ART Grand Prix, where Victor Martins has spent much of his car racing career so far.

“It’s a really good team. It’s a new team in this category,” said Coronel of his karting home. “At the beginning of the year, Valencia was the first time in CotF with this team. New chassis, new engine. Because we normally do OTK, but then we switch over to Kart Republic. And we won the first race. So it’s really, really good performance of the team, and they made everything [they could] to do it.”

As for the on-track outcomes, Coronel has a undeniable habit of coming on strong in longer races, which usually means finals and therefore his strongest results coming in the sessions that matter most and at the biggest events.

“I can be really good with my tyres,” Coronel confirmed to Formula Scout. “Even in qualifying like last time I can be really good, but I’m still improving every time.”

Christopher Feghali RED BULL 15y/o
Rotax Snr RMC Lebanon champion

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Another potentially politically positioned protege signed to the stable of Red Bull. Basically, the usual methods of scouting and selection by Red Bull do not necessarily apply with this very recent addition to its junior team.

Lebanese driver Feghali turned 15 at the end of August and earlier this year joined Andrea Kimi Antonelli on the books of Minardi Management, run by Giovanni Minardi, son of Giancarlo. He comes from a rallying family, as father Abdo, uncle Roger and cousin Alex have all been successful in the discipline, while Abdo has also found fame in drifting with Red Bull sponsorship. Like Carlos Sainz Jr, his path into joining Red Bull has been eased by his family’s existing relationship with the brand.

Feghali Jr has already made his F4 debut with Drivex and last year came 13th in the OK Junior world championship and 20th in the IAME X30 Junior Euro Series. He was Rotax Max Senior champion in Lebanon this year in a grid that never reached 10 karts.

That is not an achievement that would light up the karting press, let alone mainstream media, but Feghali was interviewed in-studio on national television following his crowning and while Red Bull’s announcements of its new juniors last month seemed to come out of nowhere it was already known in Lebanon that Feghali would be becoming an F1 junior and accompanying the press release which confirmed it was a press conference in which he and his family were interviewed.

The political situation in Lebanon has sadly changed since then, with the country being continually bombed by neighbouring Israel and put in a state of national trauma. Prior to that, the energy drinks market had been growing there, Feghali and other young Lebanese athletes had already attracted considerable online followings and a deal such as the one made with Red Bull provided the promotional power for exponential growth to be possible for both parties.

Scott Lindblom RED BULL 14y/o
OK WSK Euro champion, 8th in CotF, 30th in CIK Worlds, NC in CIK European   OK-J 11th in WSK SMS, 32nd in CIK European, 50th in CotF   X30 Jr 12th in IAME Euro

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

The most complete looking of Red Bull’s new crop of karters, Lindblom was third in the world championship, fourth in the WSK Euro Series and 11th in CotF and WSK’s Super Master Series on OK-J karts. Since stepping up up to senior machinery four months ago he has already won the WSK Euro Series title and come eighth in CotF.

He became Euro Series champion last month with more than twice the number of points of the runner-up, having been dominant in round one and near unstoppable in round two. Lindblom will start 2025 in senior karting and look to continue that form, then once he turns 15 it would not be a surprise to see him move into single-seater racing.

At the CIK-FIA World championship last month he was only behind Turney and Thibaut Ramaekers in his qualifying session, finished in the top three on-the-road three times in his heats, was fourth in his superheat but didn’t get a chance to shine in the final as he crashed on the formation lap. He still left Britain that Sunday having set the fastest lap of the weekend.

Fionn McLaughlin RED BULL 16y/o
OK 3rd in CotF, 6th in CIK European, 6th in CIK Worlds   X30 Snr 2nd in IAME Euro, 34th in IAME WC

Photo: Ida Wood

McLaughlin says he didn’t know when Red Bull first got in contact with him when asked by Formula Scout, but added: “They just invited me to this driver search a while back. So I accepted the deal and took on this opportunity.”

In fact, he first met a representative at the inaugural CotF Academy Program event in the UAE last November. Mercedes was very publicly courting talents that weekend, and McLaughlin was runner-up in the OK-N classification. Since he was overlooked, Red Bull came calling early this year and invited McLaughlin to its shootout.

By the time of those test assessments a further few months on, the Irishman was anticipating he’d become a Red Bull junior.

“I just went into it to do my best, and that’s what I did. And I came out with a good impact, so I’m happy with how it ended.”

His strong karting results this year have come with VDK Racing, and he was on course to become IAME Euro Series champion with them before he punctured on the formation lap for the final race of the season.

“It’s really good so far [with VDK]. We’ve had a lot of victories,” he commented, before comparing the significance of his results on X30 karts compared to the FIA-certified OK equipment: “Every race is important, so if you can do your best in every championship, it’s very good.”

Taym Saleh SAUBER 15y/o
OK 35th in CIK European, 64th in CotF

Photo: Sauber Group

Saleh has spent two years as a Sauber junior, but it’s unclear what their plan for him is since its driver development programme seems to lack direction now.

The first time Saleh raced in Sauber’s colours in January 2023 he came third in the WSK Champions Cup on OK-J karts, and he was still looking fast at the end of the year as in the world championship he topped his qualifying group, won two heats but had a big crash in the final after running in ninth.

He was also WSK Euro Series runner-up, came 11th in the European championship, 16th in CotF and 23rd in WSK’s Super Master Series.

Since stepping up to OK karts, the results have been harder to come by as he has spent a lot less time on track than previously. Saleh began 2024 in Sauber’s own team, switched to Ricky Flynn Motorsport during summer but has rarely been seen racing.

Sasha Bondarev WILLIAMS 15y/o
OK WSK CC winner, 2nd in WSK SMS, 19th in CotF, 19th in CIK Worlds, 26th in CIK European   X30 Snr 31st in IAME WC

Photo: Williams

Bondarev is on this list since his graduation to F4 only occurred recently, and he was signed by Williams over a year ago.

He is another talent to profit from Prema’s expansion into karting (since its squad was set up to run F1 juniors before adding the likes of Baglin), and was first profiled by Formula Scout in March 2022.

Since then the Ukrainian has established himself as a consistent frontrunner in junior and then senior karting, impressively bouncing back from a broken leg during his breakthrough 2022 season in the former.

After he was signed by the WH Sports management stable that guides the careers of Ferrari protege Ollie Bearman, it was clear his career was in good hands and that he would find himself with some good opportunities to climb the racing ladder.

The fact an F1 team came calling before he had even driven a car was an added bonus, and Bondarev’s strong grasp of English from an early age has actually made him an easier driver to converse with than many of his British peers since he has a warm personality.

One thing Bondarev may have to look out for is whether he continues to grow. He is already of a height and build well suited to his transition to cars, but should he get any taller it could become a disadvantage.

Dean Hoogendoorn WILLIAMS 12y/o
OK-J 3rd in WSK SMS, 6th in WSK Euro, 7th in WSK CC, 10th in CotF, 15th in CIK European, 55th in CIK Worlds

Photo: Williams

Champion of Germany on mini karts in 2022 then WSK Euro Series champion on OK-N Junior karts in 2023, Hoogendoorn began 2024 as one of the most exciting graduates from the mini karting scene and with junior results to prove the hype.

The Dutch youngster began this year by coming seventh in the WSK Champions Cup, and followed that up with third in WSK SMS and 15th in the European championship. His 10th place in the CotF standings was an impressive position, and more recently he came sixth in the WSK Euro Series. It will be interesting to see how he grows with his 2025 programme.

Sara Matsui WILLIAMS 13y/o
OK 76th in CIK Worlds, 116th in CotF   OK-J 123rd in CotF   OK-N Jr 6th in WSK CC, 11th in WSK SMS, currently 12th in CotF Academy Program

Photo: Williams

The Japanese karter made the longlist of drivers (but not the final) for the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s Ferrari Driver Academy-affiliated Girls on Track Rising Stars shootout in 2022. That year she also came third in Japanese championship for junior karts.

In 2023 she attended the inaugural CotF Academy Program event, coming eighth in the OK-N Junior final, and alongside a full season in that for 2024 earned a factory Kart Republic seat. Racing three different classes of kart may have provided plenty of learning opportunities, but changing teams and categories has done little to help results and particularly in the more competitive series.

Williams’ wildcard signing

During the writing of this piece, Williams announced 10-year-old Lucas Palacio as a junior during the United States Grand Prix weekend. The American used an age waiver, a way of bypassing minimum age requirements (which exist across all sports primarily in the name of safety), to make his mini karting debut in 2022 and has since picked up an impressive roster of results. But he is still only 10 – two years younger than the next-youngest driver on this list.

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Marsh’s defensive masterclass denies Mercedes juniors in CotF finale

The post Introducing the karters who are already F1 juniors appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ida Wood

Kenzo Craigie led a Prema and Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior one-two in the OK Junior final of the Karting World Championship, which was decided by a final corner crash.

It started raining shortly before the final, prompting the field to switch to karts that were already prepared with wet set-ups.

The conditions caught out Harrison Mackie on the formation lap, with the Fusion Motorsport driver having been set to start sixth. Filling the front row were DPK Racing’s Niklas Schaufler and Craigie, with Noah Baglin (Prema), Roman Kamyab (Ricky Flynn Motorsport) and James Anagnostiadis filling the next three positions.

Schaufler almost went off at hairpin one on the opening lap but somehow stayed in the lead, then at the penultimate corner he and Baglin did slide off the asphalt but with no consequence as they concluded the lap first and second.

Traction was a big issue for Schaufler, and he almost had another off on lap two when Baglin went wheel-to-wheel with him. They traded places multiple times, with Baglin starting lap three ahead and with Craigie and Fusion’s Kit Belofsky not too far behind in third and fourth as the rain worsened.

Craigie had a sideways moment and lost third but then dived back past, and up front Baglin began to pull away as he used more apex kerb than his rivals. As conditions got even tougher and drivers had to be more careful on the brakes, Craigie began to have the pace advantage and he was all over Schaufler by lap seven.

That prompted Schaufler to push, but it resulted in him almost going off due to a lack of traction again and on lap 11 Craigie swept past after a failed attempt the previous lap.

Baglin responded to his team-mate appearing behind him by setting two successive fastest laps, and it became a de facto Prema 1-2-3 on lap 12 as Schaufler spun down to sixth after Belofsky got close to him and Anagnostiadis moved into fourth behind the to-be penalised Belofsky.

With six laps to go there was 2.7s betwen the top two, but Craigie managed to close the gap by being later on the brakes through the first sector and wading through the water behind his team-mate for the rest of each lap.

He got within a second of Baglin with two laps to go, taking the fastest lap in the process, and Baglin’s slow approach into hairpin one meant another 0.4s was immediately eradicated from his lead.

They entered the decisive final lap 0.4s apart, and Craigie managed to get alongside on the run to hairpin one. Baglin left him no room on the outside, and at hairpin two Craigie was actually sent off the track but retained enough grip to rejoin the track still alongside his team-mate.

He tucked in behind for the chicane then coming to the next braking zone dived to the inside of Baglin, who was sent wide. Both went off exiting the corner, and Craigie was ahead. Baglin then pulled off a switchback move at the penultimate corner, but had not fully cleared Craigie as he turned into the final corner and the pair collided.

Craigie was provisionally victorious, but it took several hours for stewards to determine the final results. Such were the gaps in the rain that Belofsky’s double penalty only dropped him from second to fourth, with Anagnostiadis runner-up and Victory Lane’s new Red Bull junior Rocco Coronel being promoted to third.

The post Craigie leads Mercedes 1-2 in Karting World Championship’s OK-J final appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Chris Walker

Karter Kenzo Craigie has been added to the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior team for 2023 as he steps up to junior karting.

The 12-year-old has been competing in cadet and micro karts for the past three years and had a season of success in 2022.

After coming 24th in the British championship in 2020 and then ninth in 2021, he was runner-up in the Honda Cadet class last year and was champion on the same machinery in the Ultimate Karting Championship.

Craigie also won the British Kartmasters Grand Prix, having come fourth in the event in 2021. He ended that year by finishing 34th in the Rotax Grand Finals’ Rotax Micro class.

“I’m excited to announce that I have been selected to join the Mercedes-AMG F1 team on their junior driver programme, driving for Argenti Motorsport in both the UK and international karting series,” said Craigie.

“Joining the Mercedes-AMG F1 team as one of their junior drivers is a dream come true. I’m looking forward to seeing what Argenti and I can achieve together and would like to thank everyone who’s helped make this opportunity possible.”

Craigie is one of seven juniors the F1 team has on its books for this year, with Formula 2 racer Frederik Vesti, Formula 3 rookie Paul Aron, Formula Regional Middle East champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli and karters Yuanpu Cui, Luna Fluxa and Alex Powell all being retained.

British Formula 4 racer Daniel Guinchard was revealed as being dropped by Mercedes late in 2022 after less than a single year in its young driver programme.

The post Mercedes adds karter Kenzo Craigie to F1 junior team appeared first on Formula Scout.