Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Yuanpu Cui will step up from karts to cars next year with Argenti Motorsport in British Formula 4.
Cui was signed by Mercedes in June 2021 when he was just 13 years old but was already a factory karter for Kart Republic.
On OK Junior karts he came second in the Andrea Margutti Trophy and 11th in the Italian championship in 2020, and 16th in Trofeo delle Industrie the year after. In 2021 he was also 20th in the IAME Euro Series for X30 Junior karts.
Last year he stepped up to OK karts, coming 24th in the WSK Super Master Series and CIK-FIA European championship. He improved to 16th in the Champions of the Future series, then eighth in the two-round WSK Euro Series, before finishing 23rd in the CIK-FIA World championship, 11th in the WSK Open Cup and eighth in the two-round WSK Final Cup.
This year Cui moved to top junior single-seater team Prema, but in its new karting squad. Results have been harder to come by, with 26th in WSK SMS being one of the highlights.
“I’ll continue to make progress for next year’s competition and adapt to the formula car as soon as possible. The goal is to get on the championship podium,” Cui said of his 2024 move into F4, which follows tests with Argenti at Brands Hatch and Snetterton. He was supposed to make his race debut with Argenti in the Euro 4 finale at Barcelona last month, but withdrew.
Argenti’s team principal Michael Meadows said: “We are very happy to welcome Yuanpu to the team. He has been working hard in testing, and we are excited to see his development and where this will take him.”