Red Bull are on the verge of signing American junior driver Ugo Ugochukwu, snatching the 19-year-old Formula 3 championship leader from under the nose of Cadillac.
Ugochukwu, who leads the F3 standings heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, has long been linked with Cadillac, which has openly sought an American driver for Formula 1. The team's top target has been Colton Herta, a nine-time IndyCar winner who moved to Formula 2 this year to earn a superlicence, but has struggled with only 26 points from 16 races.
Red Bull academy move
According to PlanetF1, Ugochukwu is set to join the Red Bull junior programme and step up to Formula 2 next year, likely with Campos Racing, his current F3 team. He left the McLaren driver development programme late last year and became a free agent.
Speaking in Budapest, Ugochukwu said: "There's been a lot of conversations around, but I think for myself right now, it's not a main topic on my mind or something that needs to be discussed. I'm still focusing on my F3 year and finishing this year on a high. We still have F2, which is the next step in the feeder series, which comes first, so that's what I'm focusing on right now."
Path to F1
Ugochukwu, born in New York City and representing the USA while having Nigerian and Italian heritage, is being primed for the Campos F2 seat likely vacated by Nikola Tsolov, who is favourite to win the F3 title and become ineligible for the series in 2027. However, a Red Bull F1 seat may not be immediately available, with Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson, and Arvid Lindblad currently occupying the two teams' seats.
