Red Bull junior drivers Juri Vips and Liam Lawson are set to make their first Formula 1 weekend appearances during the 2022 season.
This year, regulations state that teams must run a rookie driver at two free practice one sessions during the season.
Red Bull, who operates an illustrious junior driver academy, will run Vips at two events during the year at its senior team.
The news was confirmed by AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost, who stated that Lawson would drive its car during certain practice sessions this season.
“It will be Liam Lawson,” Tost said, when asked who would fill AlphaTauri’s rookie practice seat.
“And of course, this is also a decision from Red Bull. Currently, the drivers are Liam Lawson and Vips, I think that Vips will drive for Red Bull Racing and Lawson for Scuderia Alpha Tauri.”
Vips has driven previously for Red Bull, most recently at the last year’s post-season test in Abu Dhabi.
The Estonian driver will compete in his second full FIA Formula 2 season in 2022, sticking with Hitech Grand Prix, with whom he took two race victories last year.
Lawson will also take part in his second season of F2 this year, making the switch from Hitech to Carlin.
Lawson ended the 2022 F2 season ninth in the Drivers’ standings with one race victory to his name, three places below Vips.
Teams are unlikely to run rookies early on during the season, as they continue to gather data regarding the 2022 cars, which have been built under a fresh set of technical regulations.
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