Jehan Daruvala to continue in Formula 2 with the Red Bull Junior Team
Red Bull Racing has confirmed the extension of their support to Jehan Daruvala for the 2021 FIA Formula 2 championship season. The Indian racing star created history just last month, when the 22-year-old racer successfully culminated his hard-fought maiden FIA Formula 2 Championship with a well-deserved victory at the Sakhir GP in Bahrain. Additionally, his excellent points haul in the last two rounds last season, helped Carlin rise to third in the Team’s Championship.
More importantly for Indian motorsport fans, a successful season would be the right opportunity for an F1 seat for the Jehan. This is an established occurrence at Red Bull Junior programme, which has been instrumental in producing some of the world’s best F1 racers over the years, including four-time F1 Champion - Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz Jr, among many others.
Jehan’s continuation in the Red Bull Junior Programme was inevitable, given his standout performances in arguably one of the most competitive F2 seasons ever, with 16 different drivers on the podium, 12 of which won a race. Jehan was also fastest overall in the official post-season testing, besides finishing on top in two of the three days of testing.
Speaking about Jehan, Team Principal Trevor Carlin added, “We’re extremely pleased to have the opportunity to carry on the great progress we have been making with Jehan and have another attack on the FIA F2 Championship. Jehan did a great job last season as an F2 rookie, to really show his true potential by the second half of the season. To finish the year off with a third place and then a win really confirms what we knew from the start. I expect Jehan to continue where he left off – challenging for wins from the outset in the new season.”
“I am very thankful to Red Bull for their continued faith in me. I’m extremely excited to be staying in F2 and with Carlin for 2021 as a Red Bull Junior. We made a lot of progress last year. It was great to end the season on such a high with my first F2 win and then back that up with front running pace in post-season testing.” said Jehan, adding that he’s extremely proud to fly the Red Bull colours for another season. Besides, he thanked Helmut Marko, head, Red Bull’s driver development programme, as well as his sponsors for their continued support.
The 2021 season kicks off in Bahrain on March 26 and will now have three races at each weekend. All eight weekends continue to be run concurrently with Formula 1, ending on December 12 in Abu Dhabi. Prior to the F2 campaign, Jehan will participate in the Asian F3 Championship for the all-Indian Mumbai Falcons team.
Indian motorsport fans have been tracking Jehan’s progress from a young age and have seen him achieve milestones never achieved by any other Indian in motorsport. Everyone is waiting for the start of the 2021 season hoping that Jehan will follow Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok to become only the third Indian in Formula 1.
