Red Bull has signed Honda-backed Ayumu Iwasa, the 2020 French Formula 4 champion, to its Formula 1 junior team.
The 19-year-old Japanese racer has been in single-seaters since 2017, and was first linked to Red Bull late last year, just as compatriot Yuki Tsunoda was signed to race for AlphaTauri in F1.
Red Bull’s website has listed Iwasa for several weeks despite no official announcement, and Formula Scout has learned that the teenager has officially been signed.
- Scout Report: Ayumu Iwasa & Ren Sato
He began his car racing career with a Formula Renault Asiacup cameo at Shanghai in 2017, taking a double pole and two second places, and also debuted in Japanese F4 later in the year.
In 2018 he made one Japanese F4 appearance and scored points, then spent last year focused on racing in Suzuka Racing School’s own single-seater series. He won the title there, and got his first taste of sportscars in Super Taikyu.
Iwasa was brought into Honda’s junior stable and sent to France along with Japanese F4 champion Ren Sato for 2020, and beat his compatriot to the title
The champion usually becomes a Renault junior, although Iwasa’s Honda allegiance prevented that.
He will move up to FIA Formula 3 Championship this year, where Formula Scout understands fellow Red Bull juniors Jak Crawford, Jonny Edgar, Igor Fraga and Dennis Hauger will also be racing. Hauger has already been named as one of Prema’s drivers, while the other drivers will have their teams revealed at a later date.
Jack Doohan, also a Red Bull junior and a FIA F3 racer, has been linked heavily to a move to Trident for 2021.
Ferrari’s junior roster is also set to be filling this year’s FIA F3 grid, with Arthur Leclerc team-mate to Hauger at Prema, and Enzo Fittipaldi set to remain at HWA Racelab.