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Motorsport

Sport

What is the Red Bull Junior Team? A look at Helmut Marko's F1 legacy

B’ Red Bull Toro Rosso F1 Sebastian Vettel AlphaTauri RB Max Verstappen Racing Bulls Alex Albon

The news broke on Tuesday that Helmut Marko had officially left his position as motorsport advisor to the Red Bull Formula 1 team, a role he held for 21 years.

Part of his remit was managing the young driver programme for the Red Bull operation, signing racers at a young age in the hope that they'd eventually reach F1 – or other world championships.

It is certainly one of the more controversial driver academies considering its ruthless nature – Marko has been known to quickly release individuals – but almost half of the F1 2025 grid came from the Red Bull Junior Team.

It's certainly successful in its own right, and a lot of that can be put down to Marko, so here is all to know about the Red Bull driver academy.

What is the Red Bull Junior Team?

The Red Bull Junior Team is a driver development programme operated by Austrian conglomerate Red Bull GmbH, best known for its energy drinks brand.

It was officially founded in 2001 with the aim of signing and developing young racing drivers, so that they are capable of establishing successful careers within the industry.

This entails Red Bull identifying drivers from Formula 2 right down to karting to fund and support their progression through the open-wheel ranks with aspirations of eventually getting to F1.

Sebastian Vettel, for example, first received Red Bull backing in karting, while Liam Lawson joined the programme at the age of 17 ahead of his rookie Formula 3 campaign.

Sebastian Vettel, BMW Sauber Third Driver (Photo by: Sutton Images)

Red Bull also owns two teams in motorsport’s top single-seater championship: Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls. Red Bull made its F1 debut in 2005 after the company purchased Jaguar Racing and thus took over its Milton Keynes base.

This saw Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi become the first two Red Bull juniors to compete in F1, as they both contested selected rounds of the 2005 season alongside 13-time grand prix winner David Coulthard, who was signed from McLaren.

It was not a stellar debut year for Red Bull as it finished seventh in the championship, but the following season saw the company expand its presence on the grid.

That’s because Red Bull bought the uncompetitive Minardi, an Italian squad that had been in F1 from 1985 to 2005. The company rebranded the team as Toro Rosso - which is ‘Red Bull’ in Italian - to serve as Red Bull’s junior squad in F1.

So, whenever a Red Bull junior driver has made their F1 debut, it has usually come with the Faenza-based squad in which a promotion to the 'A' team then happens if they impress.

Since its debut in 2006, the Italian outfit has raced under many guises as ‘Toro Rosso’ was ditched for ‘AlphaTauri’, Red Bull’s fashion brand, in 2020 before rebranding as ‘RB’ in 2024. From 2025, Red Bull’s sister team has been known as Racing Bulls.

Race winner Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso (Photo by: Sutton Images)

Throughout the many rebrands, however, its sister outfit has become one of F1’s most successful teams in history. Red Bull has won eight drivers’ world championships (Vettel, 2010-13, and Max Verstappen, 2021-24) and six constructors’ titles (2010-13, 2022-23), while breaking many records like the most victories in a season (21), most consecutive wins (15) and most points in a campaign (860).

But not every Red Bull junior will reach F1, as many graduates of the programme are contesting other forms of motorsport whether it is the World Endurance Championship, IndyCar or even DTM.

Which F1 drivers have graduated from the Red Bull Junior Team?

Arvid Lindblad will become the 18th F1 driver to have graduated from the Red Bull junior system when he makes his series debut in 2026.

The 18-year-old Briton will partner Lawson at Racing Bulls after Isack Hadjar, the academy's 17th F1 graduate, has become the latest driver to be pushed up to Red Bull.

The Austrian outfit therefore has a long history of signing drivers from its sister squad, with Vettel the first to make that jump in 2009 shortly after winning the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.

The eventual four-time world champion was a catalyst for drivers making the same transition, as Daniel Ricciardo and Verstappen both joined Red Bull directly from Toro Rosso.

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB10 (Photo by: Daniel Kalisz)

Given Vettel and Verstappen have each claimed four F1 world championships with Red Bull, while Ricciardo won seven grands prix with the team, the programme has many success stories.

But it is also a very cut-throat programme. Should a driver not immediately perform well, their future within the system comes under threat.

Pierre Gasly, for example, replaced Ricciardo – who'd joined Renault – in 2019 after a season and a quarter with Toro Rosso. But, the Frenchman was demoted back to the ‘B’ team after just 12 grands prix having significantly struggled against Verstappen.

His successor did not fare much better either. Alex Albon was promoted midway through his rookie year, but he was dropped from the ‘A’ team after just a season and a half.

That followed a very disappointing 2020 campaign where Albon finished seventh in the championship and 109 points behind Verstappen, who was third. So the Thai-Briton was off the grid in 2021 before returning with Williams in 2022.

They aren't the only examples of Red Bull being quick to pull the trigger though, as 2025 witnessed perhaps the most extreme example yet. Lawson started the year as Verstappen's team-mate, but he was demoted back to Racing Bulls following two race weekends where he failed to score a point.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool)

Lawson and Albon are also examples of Red Bull juniors contesting other forms of motorsport, as 2021 saw both of them enter DTM as AF Corse team-mates aboard a Ferrari 488 GT3 – the Kiwi finished runner-up with Albon in sixth.

Elsewhere, Red Bull graduate Sebastien Buemi has become a four-time WEC champion after his three-year stint with Toro Rosso. Ayumu Iwasa, meanwhile, is a Red Bull junior who became the 2025 Super Formula champion, while IndyCar’s Callum Ilott spent 2015 in the programme – yet neither have started a grand prix.

On a rare occasion, Red Bull has also signed a driver from outside of its junior ranks, as Sergio Perez replaced Albon for 2021 before staying with the Austrian outfit until the end of 2024.

Perez made his F1 debut with Sauber in 2011 having had no previous affiliation to the energy drinks brand and over the years forged a respectable career, scoring a victory and 10 podiums before his move to Red Bull.

However, his prior team Racing Point opted to replace him with Vettel for 2021, meaning Perez was without a drive despite finishing a then career-equalling best of fourth in the championship.

So, considering Albon’s struggles, Red Bull swiftly signed the free agent Perez shortly after the 2020 Abu Dhabi finale given that at the time it did not have any junior drivers capable of replacing the Thai-Briton.

Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri AT04 (Photo by: Erik Junius)

Coulthard and Mark Webber have also raced for Red Bull despite not coming through its ranks, likewise with Sebastien Bourdais and Nyck de Vries at Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri.

All F1 graduates from the Red Bull Junior Team

Driver	F1 Team(s)	Year(s) in F1	F1 world titles
Vitantonio Liuzzi	Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Force India, HRT	2005-07; 2009-11	N/A
Scott Speed	Toro Rosso	2006-07	N/A
Christian Klien	Jaguar, Red Bull, HRT	2004-06; 2010	N/A
Sebastian Vettel	BMW-Sauber, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Ferrari, Aston Martin	2007-22	4 (2010-13)
Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso	2009-11	N/A
Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso	2009-11	N/A
Daniel Ricciardo	HRT, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Renault, McLaren, AlphaTauri, RB	2011-24	N/A
Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	2012-14	N/A
Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso, Red Bull, AlphaTauri	2014-17; 2019-20	N/A
Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso, Renault, McLaren, Ferrari, Williams	2015 - present	N/A
Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso, Red Bull	2015 - present	4 (2021-24)
Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	2017-18	N/A
Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, AlphaTauri, Alpine	2017 - present	N/A
Alex Albon	Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Williams	2019 - present	N/A
Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri, RB, Racing Bulls, Red Bull	2021 - 2025	N/A
Liam Lawson	RB, Red Bull, Racing Bulls	2023 - present	N/A
Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls, Red Bull	2025 - present	N/A
Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	Incoming for 2026	N/A

Who are the current drivers in the Red Bull Junior Team?

Driver	Year joined	Racing series in 2025
Oliver Goethe	2023	Formula 2
Enzo Tarnvanichkul	2023	Eurocup-3/GB3 Championship
Tim Tramnitz	2023	Formula 3
Jules Caranta	2025	Eurocup-3
Rocco Coronel	2025	Ginetta Junior Championship
Christopher El Feghali	2025	Spanish F4
Scott Lindblom	2025	Ginetta Junior Championship, F4 Saudi Arabian Championship
Fionn McLaughlin	2025	British F4
Ernesto Rivera	2025	Eurocup-3
Nikola Tsolov	2025	Formula 3
Chiara Battig	2025	Saudi Arabian F4
Mattia Colnaghi	2026	Eurocup-3