Renault Signs its Future Young Champions

The world champion Renault team today announced its latest crop of drivers in its driver development program. A system that it began in 2002 to develop talent and try to find the Formula 1 drivers of tomorrow, the program lifted Heikki Kovalainen to the level of F1 driver this year. Of course, Renault's is not the only such program. Just about all of the leading teams have either their own such program, or they try to nurture young talent in other ways. Among the drivers in F1 this season who came directly from such programs, are, notably, Lewis Hamilton from the McLaren-Mercedes program, Vitantonio Liuzzi from the Red Bull program and Robert Kubica, who was with the Renault program for a year, although he was then dropped, only to be picked up later by BMW Sauber. Such programs help drivers with budgets and training, at all levels of the sport, from karting up to GP2.

This year's Renault development program drivers are:

Photo (c) ING Renault F1 Team