Mercedes Young Driver Frederik Vesti will venture into Formula 2 for the coming 2022 season with ART.
The 20-year-old Danish racing driver first joined Mercedes in January 2021 and started the Formula 3 season with the support of the most successful team of Formula 1’s turbo-hybrid era.
Vesti switched from Prema to ART Grand Prix for the 2021 season, repeating his P4 place in the standings with one race win and one pole position, down from three wins in two fewer races in the previous season.
Nonetheless, Vesti has secured an opportunity to move up to Formula 2 and stay at ART, where he will partner with Sauber junior Theo Pourchaire.
Pourchaire, 18, was in contention for an Alfa Romeo F1 seat in 2022 after winning two races in his rookie F2 campaign with ART but remains in the team led by Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur with winning the F2 title was commissioned .
So Vesti will hope to deny his teammate that honor.
BREAKING: @frederik_vesti is stepping up! 
The @MercedesAMGF1 Danish superstar stays with his 2021 F3 team @ARTGP in his first year in #F2 
#RoadToF1 pic.twitter.com/cIGng07UVY
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) January 21, 2022
In response to the announcement, Vesti said: “Signing my FIA Formula 2 contract with ART Grand Prix is a big deal for me.
“We worked incredibly hard in Formula 3 last season and continuing the climb up to Formula 2 together is important for my next step.
“Now it is crucial to understand all the small details of Formula 2 in order to get the maximum out of 2022.
“The tests in Abu Dhabi went really well and I learned a lot of new things. I can’t wait to be in the car for the first test in Bahrain! I want to thank ART Grand Prix for this great opportunity and for believing in me.”
After the pre-season test in Bahrain, Formula 2 then contests a 14-round season, having reverted to the original format of a sprint and a feature race for 2022, sharing race weekends with Formula 3, the a nine-round campaign.
For 2021, both series had raced on exclusive weekends on the Formula 1 calendar and expanded to a three-race format.
