There's a new Räikkönen that makes the way to one day reach Formula 1. He is Robin Räikkönen, son of the 2007 champion Kimi, who has now announced with Red Bull to join the youth program.
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09/09/2026
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Robin Räikkönen is the new member of Red Bull Junior Team. The son of the world champion of Formula 1 in 2007, Kimi Räikkonen takes another small step until the dream of one day reaching the top category.
The announcement appeared this Wednesday (9 September), days after the 11-year-old had marked presence in the paddock of the Italian GP in Monza – where he could even sit in the single place of Max Verstappen.
Red Bull sees Robin Räikkönen as “one of the most promising young talents of your generation“, integrating it into the pilot development program from next season. It seeks, thus, to begin another way to the Formula One titles, as it did with promising Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
But for now, robin's speeds are much lower: still competing in karate, a modality with which you have had contact since the first years of life. It already adds successes in national and international championships.
No unnecessary pressure
In a statement, Red Bull team leader Laurent Mekies pointed out that do not want to create “any unnecessary pressure” and that the way through the various levels of motor racing “is time consuming”. So you promised that will be given “time, support and resources” for Robin Räikkönen manage to fully exploit your potential – all in the right environment and culture, with the right people.
Kimi Räikkönen justified the signature: “Laurent and everyone else at Red Bull have given incredible support throughout our discussions. They offered us an appealing and complete program to develop and take care of Robin's progress over the next few years and give him all the experience needed to develop his natural talent.”.
Many arrived at F1, others stood in the way
In addition to the above examples of Verstappen and Vettel, by Red Bull Junior Team have passed many other drivers – some more successful than others. Some didn't even make it to Formula One and others did, but they had fleeting tickets because they weren't up to it.
Alexander Albon, Arvid Lindblad, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Isack Hadjar, Jean-Eric Vergne, Liam Lawson or Pierre Gasly are examples of what was best done: the only ones who are not in F1 today are Daniel Ricciardo (who ended his career at the end of 2024 after 12 years) and Jean-Eric Vergne (who, although not successful, went to other championships to collect titles like Formula E).
Less good were the cases of men like António Félix da Costa, Filipe Albuquerque (who did not even reach F1), Brendon Hartley, Daniil Kvyat, Jaime Alguersuari or Sébastien Buemi – who eventually failed to play Formula 1. Many of them were “victims” of the relentless character of the program under the supervision of demanding Helmut Marko (who left the structure last year).