Mercedes signs 13-year-old Chinese karter

Mercedes has announced that it has added 13-year-old Chinese card player Yuanpu Cui to its junior squad.

Cui was born in Xi’an in 2008 and started karting at the age of six after his father Hao bought him a kart for fun. Then he began to take part in small local competitions.

Racing is in his blood because his father was also a racing driver. Cui started driving professionally with events in China in 2014 and finished second in the Chinese Rotax series in 2016.

Over the next few seasons, he began to expand his racing outside of China and participated in events around the world. This included podium places at Italian national events, the WSK Open Cup, the WSK Final Cup, the ROK Cup Superfinal and the WSK Euro Series in the 60 mini and mini ROK classes in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

In 2020 he finished P2 at the 31. He also reached a podium at the Florida Winter Tour 2020 in Mini ROK.

This year he continues to drive in the OK junior classes with Kart Republic (Argenti Motorsport) and competes in various kart series.

“We are very pleased to welcome Yuanpu Cui as a new addition to our junior program in the Mercedes family,” said Gwen Lagrue, Driver Development Advisor for the Mercedes F1 Team. “We pride ourselves on helping young drivers from a wide variety of countries and backgrounds climb the motorsport ladder.

“Yuanpu has certainly caught our attention and has made great promises during his karting career so far. He is the top karting talent from China and there has never been a Chinese F1 driver to rise to the ranks.”