Fraga added to Red Bull’s F1 junior programme

New FIA Formula 3 driver Igor Fraga has been signed to Red Bull’s Formula 1 junior programme.

The Esports star, who joined Charouz Racing for the 2020 F3 season, has become the latest driver added to Red Bull’s renowned junior scheme ahead of a delayed start to the campaign.

Fraga made his name in Esports by winning the inaugural FIA Gran Turismo Nations Cup and McLaren Shadow project in 2018, as well as competing in the 2017 F1 Esports series, and has become the first-ever sim racer to join the F3 field this year.

The 21-year-old Brazilian claimed his first single-seater title in this year’s New Zealand based Toyota Racing Series, beating fellow Red Bull junior and F3 rival Liam Lawson to the crown by six points.

Along with Lawson, Fraga joins Sergio Sette Camara, Juri Vips, Jehan Daruvala, Yuki Tsunoda, Jack Doohan, Dennis Hauger, Jak Crawford in Red Bull’s current junior pool.

"For me, joining the Red Bull Junior programme is a very important thing in my career," Fraga said.

"Since I was very little, I have dreamed about becoming a Formula 1 world champion. But through my career I have realised how hard that is to achieve. But I have never given up and always kept trying.

"I went a different way by racing in eSports and winning the FIA Gran Turismo Nations Cup changed things for me. Since then, I felt I could have a real chance. Now becoming a Red Bull Junior makes my dream even more alive and gives me extra motivation to keep going forward."

The 2020 F3 season was due to get underway this weekend in Bahrain before the race was postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.