Few drivers make it to Formula 1, but their odds of doing so skyrocket by being affiliated with an F1 team’s junior driver programme. This series explores the performances of driver academy members in 2023. Today’s spotlight: the Mercedes Junior Team.

By Grégoire Devaux

The year 2023 was a great one for the Mercedes Junior Team. With seven drivers competing in series from F2 to karting, the German marque’s junior programme once again expanded its trophy cabinet, proving that it had one of the strongest driver pools among junior teams. The programme is also unique in its focus on karting, a discipline in which four of its drivers competed.

Check out the e-book below to read all seven of the 2023 F1 driver academy reviews!

Frederik Vesti (F2, P2)

After an impressive F2 rookie season with ART Grand Prix, Vesti moved to Prema Racing for 2023, competing alongside the highly rated Ferrari Driver Academy member Ollie Bearman. The least we can say is that the Dane did the job. Finishing second behind his former ART teammate Théo Pourchaire in a season that kept viewers on their toes until the very last race of the campaign, Vesti solidified his status as a fan favourite.

On his way to that second-place finish, the Prema driver took six wins and four further podiums. Vesti couldn’t hide his disappointment about missing out on the title, having topped the standings for most of the season. However, a troubled end of the season in which he failed to score points in three consecutive feature races helped Théo Pourchaire make a late comeback to clinch the title.

Although the Danish driver hasn’t yet announced where he will drive in 2024, a third F2 season is not in his plans.

Paul Aron (F3, P3; F2, P24)

Another Mercedes Junior Team driver working with Prema in 2023 was F3 driver Aron, who finished third in his rookie season with the Italian team. It showed solid progression for the Estonian driver after he finished third in FRECA last year, also with Prema.

While Trident’s Gabriel Bortoleto dominated the season, Aron fought with experienced drivers like Zak O’Sullivan, Franco Colapinto and Pepe Martí, who were all in their second seasons in the championship. This season, the Estonian claimed a win and three further podiums. He also earned a drive in the F2 season finale with Trident at Yas Marina, where he finished 16th and 18th in the sprint race and the feature race respectively.

Although he had a good season, Aron will be ending his association with Mercedes, a partnership that started in the Estonian’s first single-seater season in 2019. Aron had already competed without Mercedes branding at the Macau Grand Prix in November and the F2 Abu Dhabi round. Though the end of this association represents a big change in the Estonian’s career, it will not have any direct consequence for his 2024 racing plans, as he has been confirmed for a full-time seat in F2 with Hitech GP.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli (FRMEC, P1; FRECA, P1)

Having clinched the Italian F4 and ADAC F4 titles in 2022, Antonelli once again matched the expectations set for him this season. The Italian driver won the Formula Regional Middle East Championship in the winter in preparation for the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, which he also ended up winning. 

With five wins and six further podiums in FRECA, the Prema driver stayed on top of the standings for most of the season, resisting any lingering pressure from second-place finisher Martinius Stenshorne, who led early in the season.

As if his meteoric rise through the junior-single seaters ladder wasn’t already astonishing enough, the Italian driver was announced to be staying with Prema but moving up to F2 for the 2024 season. Antonelli will skip F3, going from regional racing to international racing in the span of a few months, and enters the second tier as one of the most highly rated drivers on the grid.

Alex Powell (Italian F4, P24; karting, various)

Born in Jamaica in 2007, Powell has slowly a name for himself in international karting. Partnered with Mercedes since he was 11, Powell finished second in the OK class of the FIA Karting European Championship in 2022. Staying in the same class in 2023, he found consistency en route to third, though perhaps his most notable accomplishment was winning the OK class of RGMMC’s Champions of the Future series in September.

The Jamaican driver notably made his single-seater debut in Italian F4 in September, competing with Prema – as has become custom for Mercedes Junior Team members – in the last two rounds of the season at Mugello and Vallelunga. He scored his first point by finishing 10th in the last race of the season. He also raced in the non-championship F4 UAE round at Yas Marina in November, finishing seventh and sixth in the two races.

In early December, it was announced that Powell would make a full-time switch to F4 for 2024, racing with Prema in both Italian F4 and Euro 4.

Yuanpu Cui (karting, various)

Cui, a member of the Mercedes Junior Team since 2021, competed in European karting this season. It was, however, a season to forget results-wise for the Chinese driver, who failed to score any points in the OK class of the European championship with Prema.

However, the Mercedes protégé achieved much more consistency in the WSK Super Master Series and the Champions of the Future series.

Next year will be pivotal for Cui, who was recently announced to be joining Argenti for the 2024 British F4 season.

Luna Fluxá (karting, various)

Fluxá built on her 2022 IAME Euro Series X30 Mini title by jumping to the OK-J category for 2023. It was a season of discovery and progress for the 13-year-old as she competed with Prema in the OK junior class of the FIA Karting European Championship, in which she finished 29th. She also finished fourth in the WSK Champions Cup with KR Motorsport and 80th in the World Karting Championship, also both in the OK Junior class.

Fluxá, who joined the Mercedes Junior Team in February 2022, has not announced plans for 2024 yet, but it is expected that the Spanish karter will stick to the OKJ class for one more year in order to develop herself even more.

Kenzo Craigie (karting, various)

The latest addition to the Mercedes Junior Team, Kenzo Craigie joined the German outfit after an impressive 2022 season in which he finished second in the British Kart Championship and won the Ultimate Karting Championship. 

As part of his partnership with Mercedes, the 13 year-old driver signed with Argenti Motorsport to compete in both UK and international karting series. With Argenti, the English driver finished second in the Junior Rotax Euro Trophy Championship, earning him a qualification for the Rotax Max Grand Finals in Bahrain earlier this month, in which he represented the UK and finished 20th.

Craigie’s plans for 2024 haven’t been announced yet.

Header photo credit: Mercedes Junior Team