Alpine unveils its junior driver program
The Alpine Academy succeeds the Renault Sport Academy: Frenchman Victor Martins is among the 5 promising talents supported for the 2021 season.
The Alpine Academy supports 5 drivers for the new motorsport season! The announcement was made this Wednesday, February 10: 5 hopefuls have been selected by the Alpine Academy, successor to the Renault Sport Academy.
On the list, there is a Frenchman, the young Victor Martins, 19 years old, 2020 Formula Renault champion, with 7 wins in 20 races.
The Frenchman Victor Martins arrives in F3 with the support of Alpine.
Dropped from the program last year, Victor Martins returns to the Alpine-Renault fold for the 2021 season. The French hopeful will race in F3 with the MP Motorsport team, backed by Alpine. His teammate? Caio Collet, an 18-year-old Brazilian driver… the 2020 Formula Renault vice-champion, behind Martins!
On the departure side, Hadrien David is not retained by the Alpine Academy after a difficult 2020 year in Formula Renault, finishing in 10th place in the overall standings.
Zhou and Lundgaard spearheading the Alpine Academy
Already known for their performances in F2 during the 2020 season, the Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou and the Danish driver Christian Lundgaard are returning for an additional year in the feeder series to Formula 1.
Guanyu Zhou will drive for ART Grand Prix, with the Frenchman Théo Pourchaire (F3 vice-champion in 2020) as a teammate. Christian Lundgaard will compete for the UNI-Virtuosi team.
First up:
GUANYU ZHOU
???? @FIA_F2
???? @VirtuosiRacing“F1 is my dream, my target and the team has given me chances to test the F1 car in my role as a test driver.”
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— Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) February 10, 2021
A third driver from the Alpine Academy will be engaged in F2: Oscar Piastri, the 2020 F3 champion. Oscar Piastri will drive for the Prema team, in the seat of the 2020 F2 champion, Mick Schumacher, who left for Haas in Formula 1.
In total, five drivers benefit from the material and financial support of the Alpine Academy. Support that is certainly visible on the single-seaters, as in previous seasons. Their goal will be to catch the eye of Davide Brivio, the new sporting director of Alpine, the successor to Cyril Abiteboul.
