In recent years, being part of a Formula 1 driver academy has become an essential factor for young talents on a quest to reach F1. Feeder Series spoke to multiple drivers to grasp how their progress shapes the academies’ support.

By Daniele Spadi and Martin Lloyd

With the addition of the Audi Driver Development Programme in 2026, the number of academies linked to F1 teams has now risen to nine, with just newcomers Cadillac missing. Racing Bulls and Red Bull Racing share an affiliation with the Red Bull Junior Team.

Junior programmes go beyond F1 too, as demonstrated by the Honda Formula Dream Project and the TGR Driver Challenge Program, with F3’s Taito Kato and F2’s Ritomo Miyata being their respective flagship members.

Drivers are often scouted as early as their karting days. That was the case for this year’s F1 rookie Arvid Lindblad, the most recent graduate of the Red Bull Junior Team, who was scouted in 2020 at just 13 years of age.

Despite that, the academies’ actual involvement usually picks up in intensity once the drivers reach the upper levels of single-seater racing. For 18-year-old Nicola Lacorte, who joined the Alpine Academy back in December 2023 as he geared up for his maiden FRegional Europe campaign, the level of support changed significantly when he began his first full-time F3 campaign last year. 

“For the last couple of years I’ve been in the F1 [driver] academy, but especially in my first year in FRECA, I didn’t feel great support,” Lacorte told Feeder Series. “Then stepping up to F3, I think they just care more about you as you get closer to F1.”

Naturally, different academies operate in different ways, but the majority place a premium on using simulator time to help develop their junior talents.

“They are giving me a chance to prepare with their sim for race events. They are giving me some advice on what to do and what to do,” Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member Tuukka Taponen explained to Feeder Series.

The 19-year-old won the FDA Scouting World Finals in 2022, and he has been wearing the Prancing Horse on his overalls ever since. Under Ferrari’s guidance, he secured the FR Middle East title in 2024 and finished third in FR Europe the same year before finishing ninth in his maiden F3 campaign last year with three podium finishes. Taponen reflected on the importance of experience as he gears up for a second stab at the F3 title, this time with MP Motorsport.

“As a second-year [F3] driver, I will have a bit more of an advantage compared to the ones that are doing their first year. They are always aware of what’s going on at the track and they are always following me and aware of what I’m doing,” Taponen said.

F3 rookie Mattia Colnaghi, Taponen’s teammate and a member of the Red Bull Junior Team since last August, spoke to the importance of the Austrian marque’s experience in the sport.

“Regarding the Red Bull academy, they do support me with sim sessions,” the reigning Eurocup-3 champion told Feeder Series. “It’s just a general guidance where they’ve been in the sport for very long, in Formula 1 for very long, so they know what works and what doesn’t. It’s good for them to guide me through this process of my career in F3 and hopefully F2 as well.”

That step from F3 to F2 is crucial for a driver’s development. Just as in other series, academies have to find the right teams to house their drivers based on the funding that they and the driver are able to commit. But with F2 being just one level below F1, the pressure on the driver to succeed is even higher with their goal so close.

Mari Boya officially joined the Aston Martin Driver Academy in June 2025 and has linked up with the Prema Racing team for his debut F2 season in 2026. The Spaniard will have the weight of the Italian team’s expectations on his shoulders as he attempts to restore them to frontrunning status, but he is also wearing Aston Martin’s colours in his attempts to reach F1.

“I’m really proud and grateful for the opportunity they are giving to me,” Boya told Feeder Series at a pre-season media roundtable. “I am not thinking a lot about my relationship with them because since I’m with them, it’s constantly changing. It’s going every time better and better, the results are for sure since I’m with them. 

“The relationship with them is getting better and better, so I will try just to focus on myself, and management-wise, they will try to get the better opportunities for me. I’m trying just to focus on myself, deliver on track, and for sure this will help.”

Alongside Boya in the Aston Martin stable is Cian Shields, who competes for AIX Racing. The Scotsman struggled in his first F2 season in 2025, but he participated in F1’s free practice one at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as part of his development programme. He told Feeder Series that his involvement with the team was originally kept under wraps, perhaps reducing the pressure on him to perform. 

“Everyone knows a bit more now that we’re part of the Aston program,” Shields said, “as it got kept, not secret, but nothing got announced whenever we first joined them. So it was just a behind-the-scenes [involvement].

“But the guys at Aston, they’re a great help. Anything I ever need or want, they can provide to me, even on the race weekends prior. So I think having them by my side is definitely a big benefit, [in] on-track support and also off track, doing a lot of work at the factory and behind the scenes.”

Additional reporting by Tori Turner

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency