Red Bull Junior Team
| Founded | 2001 |
|---|---|
| Base | Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Team principal(s) | Guillaume Rocquelin (Head of Driver Academy) |
| Current drivers | Red Bull Junior Team FIA Formula 2 Nikola Tsolov FIA Formula 3 Mattia Colnaghi Ernesto Rivera Fionn McLaughlin Eurocup-3 Enzo Tarnvanichkul Formula 4 Scott Kin Lindblom Chiara Bättig Rocco Coronel Ginetta Junior Melvin Kalousdian Red Bull Academy Programme F1 Academy Alisha Palmowski Rafaela Ferreira |
| Website | https://www.redbull.com/int-en/juniorteam |
The Red Bull Junior Team is a driver development programme operated by Austrian conglomerate company Red Bull GmbH to identify and develop talent in open-wheel racing. Members of the Junior Team are financed and sponsored by Red Bull in kart racing and junior formulae.
The programs have been successful in bringing a selection of drivers into Formula One. Five graduates—Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz Jr.—have won a Formula One Grand Prix, whilst Vettel and Verstappen have won the World Drivers' Championship a combined eight times. Red Bull owns two teams in Formula One, Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls.
The Red Bull Junior Team was also the name of RSM Marko, a team that competed in International Formula 3000 between 1999 and 2003, sponsored by Red Bull and run by Helmut Marko.
The Red Bull Junior Team was formed in 2001 as Red Bull's European driver programme. Red Bull offers funding and support for the promising young drivers that are part of the programme. In 2004, Christian Klien became the first Red Bull Junior to race in Formula One, while in 2008, Sebastian Vettel became the first Red Bull Junior to win a Formula One Grand Prix, the Italian Grand Prix. Two years later, in 2010, Vettel became the first Red Bull Junior graduate to win the Formula One World Championship.
The similar Red Bull Driver Search, now ended, was an American spin-off of the same idea held in 2005. In 2024, Red Bull formed a separate programme called the Red Bull Academy Programme to support the team's F1 Academy drivers.