The Red Bull Junior Team is a driver development programme operated by Austrian conglomerate company

Red Bull GmbH Red Bull GmbH () is an Austrian multinational private conglomerate company that created the Red Bull range of energy drinks. It is also known for its sponsorship, wide range of sporting events and Works team, teams. The headquarters of Red Bull ...

to identify and develop talent in

open-wheel racing Formula racing, also known as open-wheel racing in North America, is any of several forms of Open-wheel car, open-wheeled single-seater Auto racing, motorsport. A "formula", first devised by Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA for ...

. Members of the Junior Team are financed and sponsored by Red Bull in

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

and junior formulae. The programs have been successful in bringing a selection of drivers into

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

. Five graduates— Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz Jr.—have won a Formula One Grand Prix, whilst Vettel and Verstappen have won the World Drivers' Championship a combined eight times. Red Bull owns two teams in Formula One,

Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing, currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing and also known simply as Red Bull or RBR, is a Formula One racing team, List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationality, competing under an Austrian racing licence and based in ...

and Racing Bulls. The ''Red Bull Junior Team'' was also the name of RSM Marko, a team that competed in International Formula 3000 between 1999 and 2003, sponsored by Red Bull and run by Helmut Marko. The Red Bull Junior Team was formed in 2001 as Red Bull's European driver programme. Red Bull offers funding and support for the promising young drivers that are part of the programme. In 2004, Christian Klien became the first Red Bull Junior to race in Formula One, while in 2008, Sebastian Vettel became the first Red Bull Junior to win a Formula One Grand Prix, the Italian Grand Prix. Two years later, in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, Vettel became the first Red Bull Junior graduate to win the Formula One World Championship. The similar Red Bull Driver Search, now ended, was an American spinoff of the same idea held in 2005. In 2024, Red Bull formed a separate programme called the Red Bull Academy Programme to support the team's F1 Academy drivers.

Current drivers

Graduates to Red Bull Racing in Formula 1

* Championship titles highlighted in bold. * † denotes currently active Formula 1 drivers.

Graduates to Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri/RB

This list includes drivers who have graduated from the Junior Team to Toro Rosso, AlphaTauri and Racing Bulls but have not raced for Red Bull Racing. Former Red Bull Junior Team drivers who have driven for both Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri/RB and Red Bull Racing appear on the Graduates to Red Bull Racing table. * Championship titles highlighted in bold. * † denotes currently active Formula 1 drivers.

Former drivers

* Championship titles highlighted in bold.

Graduates summary

The scheme has been successful, with several of the drivers backed by Red Bull making it into Formula One: * Enrique Bernoldi – raced for Arrows and was briefly a test driver for British American Racing. * Christian Klien – raced for Jaguar Racing,

, HRT F1 Team and was a test driver for

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

and BMW Sauber. * Patrick Friesacher – raced for Minardi. * Narain Karthikeyan – raced for

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and HRT and was a test driver for Williams. * Robert Doornbos – raced for Minardi and

. * Vitantonio Liuzzi – raced for

, Scuderia Toro Rosso and Force India, at one stage attracted the attention of

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

after dominant performances in Formula 3000, raced for the HRT F1 Team before being replaced ahead of the season. *

Scott Speed Scott Andrew Speed (born January 24, 1983) is an American race car driver who has competed in numerous disciplines, including open-wheel racing, open-wheel, stock car racing, stock car, and rallycross racing. In , Speed became the first American ...

– raced for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2006 and 2007. Raced the No. 82 Red Bull Racing Team Toyota Camry in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Sprint Cup Series before being released by Red Bull after the 2010 season. Speed currently races in Global Rallycross for Andretti Autosport, where he is 3–time and reigning champion. * Sebastian Vettel – Made a one-off appearance for BMW Sauber before joining Toro Rosso for the second half of the season in

's place, replaced David Coulthard at

for the season. Became the , , and Formula One World Drivers' Champion, and left for

at the end of the season. He moved to Aston Martin in the season before retiring at the end of the season. * Sébastien Buemi – raced for Scuderia Toro Rosso from 2009 to 2011. He had participated in the GP2 Series Asia and

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Ecc ...

for Trust Team Arden and in A1 Grand Prix with A1 Team Switzerland, as back–up to fellow Red Bull Junior Team driver Jani. * Jaime Alguersuari – raced for Scuderia Toro Rosso, substituted for Sébastien Bourdais for the second half of the season before being replaced at the end of the 2011 season. He had won

British F3 The British Formula Three Championship was an international Auto racing, motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level Formula racing, feeder formula ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and raced in the World Series by Renault in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. In 2015 he retired from motorsport and is now a DJ. * Karun Chandhok – raced for Hispania Racing and Team Lotus, and was a heritage driver for Williams. * Daniel Ricciardo – reserve driver for

and winner of the 2009 British Formula 3 season with Carlin Motorsport before being placed at HRT in and joining Toro Rosso in . Signed up to replace Mark Webber at Red Bull for the 2014 season, taking three victories and finishing 3rd in the championship standings. He has raced for

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and McLaren after leaving Red Bull Racing at the end of the season. Rejoined Scuderia AlphaTauri in 2023 after the firing of Nyck De Vries, before getting dropped after the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix. * Jean-Éric Vergne – joined Toro Rosso for the 2012 season after finishing second in the 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season. Left the programme at the end of the season to become a test driver at Ferrari. * Daniil Kvyat – joined Toro Rosso for the 2014 season after claiming the GP3 title the previous year. Signed up to replace Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull for the 2015 season. Demoted to Scuderia Toro Rosso after the 2016 Russian GP, replaced with Max Verstappen. Replaced by Pierre Gasly at Toro Rosso for the season, joined

as test and reserve driver. Rejoined Toro Rosso for the 2019 season before being replaced again at the end of 2020. * Carlos Sainz Jr. – joined Toro Rosso for the 2015 season after claiming the Formula Renault 3.5 title the previous year. Moved to

after the 2017 Japanese GP. Joined McLaren for the . Then joined

for the 2021 season, where he won four races. He joined Williams Racing in the season. * Max Verstappen – joined Toro Rosso for 2015 after finishing third in the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship, having been signed to the Red Bull programme midway through that season. Promoted to Red Bull Racing for the 2016 Spanish GP, which he won on debut. Became , , , and Formula One World Drivers' Champion with Red Bull. * Pierre Gasly – debuted for Toro Rosso in the 2017 Malaysian GP after winning the 2016 GP2 Series. Joined Toro Rosso full time for the 2018 season. Promoted to Red Bull Racing for the 2019 season to replace Daniel Ricciardo. Demoted to Toro Rosso after the 2019 Hungarian GP. He left the rebranded Scuderia AlphaTauri and moved to Alpine in the season. *

Brendon Hartley Brendon Morris Hartley (born 10 November 1989) is a New Zealand racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Motorsport GmbH, Toyota. Hartley competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing (motorsport) ...

– joined Toro Rosso for the 2017 United States GP after winning the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship. Continued with the team the following year before being replaced by Alexander Albon for 2019. * Alexander Albon – re-signed by Red Bull ahead of the 2019 season to race for Toro Rosso after finishing third in the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship. Promoted to Red Bull Racing after the 2019 Hungarian GP, contract not renewed for 2021. Became a Red Bull test driver and joined their 2021 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters team. Returned to Formula One in 2022 with Williams. * Yuki Tsunoda – joined rebranded Scuderia AlphaTauri for the 2021 season after coming third in Formula 2 the previous year. Promoted to Red Bull Racing at the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix. * Liam Lawson – debuted for Scuderia AlphaTauri in the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix after coming third in Formula 2 the previous year, deputising for Ricciardo. Re-joined the rebranded RB Formula One Team in the 2024 United States Grand Prix to replace Ricciardo. He was briefly promoted to Red Bull Racing for the 2025 season but was demoted back to Racing Bulls after only two rounds. * Isack Hadjar – joined Racing Bulls for the 2025 season after coming second in Formula 2 the previous year. As well as these, Red Bull has supported many up-and-coming young drivers: * Neel Jani – a test driver for Sauber,

, and later Toro Rosso, whilst also representing

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in A1 Grand Prix. * Colin Fleming – raced in the World Series by Renault with Carlin Motorsport. *

Michael Ammermüller Michael Ammermüller (born 14 February 1986) is a racing driver from Germany. After competing in various junior formulae, he became a test and reserve driver for the Red Bull Racing Formula One team in the 2007 Formula One World Championship, ...

– raced in the

with ART. * Mikhail Aleshin – raced in the World Series by Renault with Carlin Motorsport. * Adrian Zaugg – raced in World Series by Renault for Carlin Motorsport for a part–season as well in A1 Grand Prix for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. * Filipe Albuquerque – raced in the World Series by Renault with Epsilon Euskadi. * Robert Wickens – raced in the World Series by Renault with Carlin Motorsport. * António Félix da Costa – finished third in the 2012 GP3 Series with Carlin and the 2013 Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Arden Caterham. *

Alex Lynn Alexander George Lynn (born 17 September 1993) is a British people, British racing driver who is from Great Dunmow. He currently competes in the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship driving the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R for Jota Sport. Lynn h ...

– won the GP3 Series in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

for Carlin. * Sérgio Sette Câmara – competed in the 2016 FIA Formula 3 European Championship for Motopark. Progressed into Formula 2 without Red Bull's support and was re-signed in 2020 as a test driver for

and Scuderia AlphaTauri. * Dan Ticktum – raced part-time in the Super Formula Championship in 2018 and 2019 for Team Mugen.

American spin-off

Red Bull Driver Search was an American spin-off run from 2002 to 2005 in parallel with the Red Bull Junior Team. Its aim was "Searching for the future American F1 Champion". The winner was

, who went on to compete in F1 in 2005 as a test driver for Red Bull.

Red Bull Academy Programme

In 2024, Red Bull set up the Red Bull Academy Programme to support the team's F1 Academy drivers. F1 Academy was founded by Formula One as a racing series aimed at developing and preparing young female drivers to progress to higher levels of competition.

Results

Formula 3000

* D.C. = Drivers' Championship position, T.C. = Teams' Championship position.

Notes

References

External links

Red Bull Junior Team

Red Bull Racing

Scuderia AlphaTauri
{{Driver development programs Racing schools Sports organizations established in 2001 Red Bull sports clubs and teams International Formula 3000 teams Red Bull Racing