Mercedes Junior Team

Mercedes Junior Team

Founded	2014;12 years ago (2014)
Base	Brackley, Northamptonshire, England
Team principal(s)	Gwen Lagrue (co-Director)
Current drivers	Formula Regional Rashid Al Dhaheri Formula 4 Andy Consani Kenzo Craigie Luna Fluxá Ethan Jeff-Hall F1 Academy Payton Westcott Karting James Anagnostiadis Many Nuvolini
Website	https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/team

The Mercedes Junior Team is a driver development programme by the Mercedes-AMG F1 Team to help promote drivers from karts through the feeder series ladder to promote them to their Formula One team. Four drivers have been promoted to Formula One while part of the Junior Team: Pascal Wehrlein (2016), Esteban Ocon (2016), George Russell (2019), and Andrea Kimi Antonelli (2025). Of these, Russell and Antonelli have raced for the Mercedes works team.

Current drivers

Driver	Years	Current Series	Titles achieved as Mercedes Junior Team member
Luna Fluxá [1]	2022–	F4 Spanish Championship	none as Mercedes Junior Team member
Kenzo Craigie [2]	2023–	UAE4 Series Italian F4 Championship E4 Championship	none as Mercedes Junior Team member
James Anagnostiadis [3]	2024–	Karting (OK)	none as Mercedes Junior Team member
Rashid Al Dhaheri [4]	2025–	Formula Regional Middle East Trophy Formula Regional European Championship	none as Mercedes Junior Team member
Andy Consani [4]	2025–	UAE4 Series Italian F4 Championship E4 Championship	none as Mercedes Junior Team member
Ethan Jeff-Hall [5]	2025–	F4 British Championship	none as Mercedes Junior Team member
Many Nuvolini [4]	2025–	Karting (OK-J)	none as Mercedes Junior Team member
Payton Westcott [6]	2026–	F1 Academy	none as Mercedes Junior Team member

Graduates to Formula One

This list contains the drivers that have graduated to Formula One with support from Mercedes. Therefore, drivers who have had support in the past and entered Formula 1 through other means are not included. Drivers who drove for other teams while still part of Mercedes' youth setup are highlighted in italics.

Driver	Academy experience		F1 experience with Mercedes	F1 experience with other teams
	Years	Former series
Pascal Wehrlein	2014–2018	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (2014–2015, 2018) Formula One (2016–2017)	—N/a	Manor (2016) Sauber (2017)
Esteban Ocon	2015–2019	GP3 Series ( 2015 ) Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (2016) Formula One (2016–2018)	—N/a	Manor (2016) Force India (2017–2018) Renault (2020) Alpine (2021–2024) Haas (2025–)
George Russell	2017–2021	GP3 Series (2017) FIA Formula 2 Championship (2018) Formula One (2019–2021)	2020, 2022–	Williams (2019–2021)
Andrea Kimi Antonelli	2018–2024	Italian F4 Championship (2021– 2022 ) ADAC Formula 4 Championship ( 2022 ) Formula Regional Middle East Championship ( 2023 ) Formula Regional European Championship ( 2023 ) FIA Formula 2 Championship (2024)	2025–	—N/a

Former drivers

Driver	Years	Series that driver competed as Mercedes Junior
Paul Aron [7] [8]	2019–2023	Italian F4 Championship (2019) ADAC F4 Championship (2019) Formula Renault Eurocup (2020) Formula Regional European Championship (2021–2022) Formula Regional Asian Championship (2022) FIA Formula 3 Championship (2023)
Alex Powell [9]	2019–2025	Karting (2019–2023) Italian F4 Championship (2023–2025) F4 Middle East Championship (2024–2025) E4 Championship (2024–2025) Formula Regional European Championship (2025)
Frederik Vesti [10]	2021–2024	FIA Formula 3 Championship (2021) FIA Formula 2 Championship (2022–2023) European Le Mans Series – LMP2 (2024)
Yuanpu Cui [11]	2021–2025	Karting (2021–2023) Euro 4 Championship (2023) Formula 4 UAE Championship (2024) F4 British Championship (2024) F4 Chinese Championship (2024) Formula Regional Middle East Championship (2025) GB3 Championship (2025) Formula Regional European Championship (2025)
Daniel Guinchard [1] [12]	2022	F4 British Championship (2022)
Doriane Pin [13]	2024–2025	Formula 4 UAE Championship (2024) F1 Academy (2024– 2025 ) Formula Regional European Championship (2024–2025) Formula Regional Middle East Championship (2025)
Julia Montlaur [4]	2025	Karting (2025)
Noah Strømsted [4]	2025	FIA Formula 3 Championship (2025)

References

1. "Class of 2022: The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team's Junior Programme". Mercedes AMG F1. 15 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
2. "Mercedes announce seven junior drivers for 2023 – including new British recruit". Formula 1®. 21 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
3. "Mercedes-AMG F1 Team: Summer of Success for Junior Programme". Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
4. "Team Announces Expanded 2025 Junior Programme". Mercedes AMF F1. 7 March 2025. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
5. Wood, Ida (5 February 2025). "Mercedes signs world karting champion Ethan Jeff-Hall as F1 junior". Formula Scout. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
6. "Payton Westcott to drive for Mercedes in 2026 F1 ACADEMY campaign". F1 Academy™. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
7. Scott, Mark (5 July 2019). "Mercedes add 15-year-old Aron to junior ranks". PlanetF1. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
8. Scout, Formula (27 November 2023). "Paul Aron confirms exit from Mercedes-AMG F1 Junior Team". Formula Scout. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
9. Korney, Stephanie (10 April 2019). "Alex Powell, 11, Becomes First Jamaican, Caribbean Driver to Sign with Formula 1 Team". Jamaicans.com. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
10. "Frederik Vesti - Junior Drivers". Mercedes AMG F1. 19 January 2021. Archived from the original on 11 June 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
11. "Mercedes sign 13-year-old Chinese karter Yuanpu Cui to junior programme". Formula 1®. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
12. Feeder Series. "Daniel Guinchard has confirmed to F1 Feeder Series he would part ways with the Mercedes Junior Team". Twitter. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
13. "Doriane Pin joins Mercedes Junior Programme for 2024 F1 Academy campaign". Formula 1®. 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.