Photo: Red Bull
Italian Formula 4 champion Kacper Sztuka has been signed by the Red Bull Junior Team as he looks to make the next step in his career.
Driving for US Racing, Polish driver Sztuka beat a host of Prema-run Formula 1 junior drivers to win this year’s Italian F4 title, including Red Bull’s Arvid Lindblad, McLaren protege Ugo Ugochukwu and Ferrari-backed James Wharton and Tuukka Taponen.
He won eight of the last nine races to overcome what was a deficit of 113.5 points to Lindblad, but funding limitations meant there had been uncertainty over where he could race next season.
That is likely to be have been resolved now by his Red Bull deal, and Formula Scout understands that he is likely to step up to FIA Formula 3 after joining MP Motorsport for the last of the post-season tests at Imola.
Sztuka did already share a sponsor with Red Bull’s second F1 team AlphaTauri in Polish oil firm Orlen, and the squad congratulated him on his new deal on social media. Its CEO Peter Bayer had already teased the arrangement to Polish media earlier this month.
He is the fourth driver to be added to the Red Bull junior line-up in recent months as it refreshes its roster ahead of 2024.
It first signed Pepe Marti, who is expected to step up from F3 to Formula 2 with Campos Racing, before taking on Formula Regional racer Tim Tramnitz – who is also set to be part of the MP F3 line-up next year. It also announced the signing of existing F3 racer Oliver Goethe prior to last week’s Macau Grand Prix.
Current F2 drivers Dennis Hauger and Jak Crawford have both revealed they will split with Red Bull after this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi – but Enzo Fittipaldi has confirmed he will stay ‘with the Red Bull family’.