F1 News
Renault still committed to promoting a junior driver to F1 by 2021!
Renault Sport's Academy Director Mia Sharizman says that the target for the team is still to have an academy driver in the team by 2021. The French team have Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon signed up for 2020, but there is plenty of talent in their youth system waiting to break through.
Driver academies have become big business in recent times, led by the success Aston Martin Red Bull Racing have had, but rival teams such as Ferrari with Charles Leclerc and McLaren with Lando Norris have brought through their own new talent, and Renault look determined to do the same.
The late Anthoine Hubert was part of the academy, and would have been one of the favourites to make the move up, but there is still plenty of hope for other drivers.
Some of their prospects include 2019 F2 stars Jack Aitken and Guanyu Zhou, with Christian Lundgaard set to join the series next year.
He said, according to motorsportweek.com: "It’s clear winning championships as a rookie is becoming more difficult and it means we’re in a great position for our drivers to be competing for titles in 2020.
"The target has always been to have an Academy driver in a position to be in the Formula 1 race seat by 2021, so there’s a lot of hard work ahead. We’re confident this can be achieved.
"We can call next season the ‘attack’ year for the Academy. We aim to win championships and we are also targeting building a reputation for our programme, so the best young talent out there wants to be with Renault.
"I’m very much looking forward to seeing how next season pans out; it’s an exciting time."