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Australia’s next Formula One hopeful Oscar Piastri isn’t daunted by the task ahead of him in 2021 as he steps up into the FIA F2 Championship.
Piastri, who won the FIA F3 Championship in 2020, steps into the Formula One feeder category with
Prema Racing, the same outfit that took Mick Schumacher to the F2 title in 2020. Schumacher has since been signed by Haas F1 and will race in F1 this year.
Piastri is hoping to follow in Schumacher’s wheel tracks. And like the son of seven-time F1 world champion Michael, the Melbourne-born 19-year-old has the backing of an established F1 team.
Chinese racer and Alpine Academy member Guanyu Zhou will enter his third season of Formula 2 in 2021. But he plans to make it his last, with Zhou hoping that a proper title bid this season will provide a launchpad to becoming the first Chinese driver to start a Grand Prix in 2022.
The Alpine Academy’s five members for 2021 have been unveiled, with youngsters Oscar Piastri, Guanyu Zhou, Christian Lundgaard, Victor Martins and Caio Collet set to feature in the French marque’s driver development programme this year.
Alpine does not need links to find F1 seats for juniors
Date published:
February 10 2021
Alpine do not believe that their lack of affiliations in Formula 1 will stop them finding seats for their junior drivers.
The team have been given a complete rebranding ahead of the 2020 campaign, out goes Renault and in comes the Alpine name.
The Renault Sport Academy boasted a very talented collection of junior drivers, and the majority of them have been retained for this new era as Alpine Academy racers, landing seats across Formula 2 and Formula 3.
Guanyu Zhou and Christian Lundgaard, both remaining in Formula 2 for 2021, are seen as the prospects closest to making it onto the Formula 1 grid, while reigning Formula 3 Champion Oscar Piastri, who remains with Prema for 2021 as he joins the F2 grid, will be looking to muscle his way to the front of the queue.