Red Bull’s talent hunt has swung the doors open again, and two teenagers just walked through them with purpose. After a three-day Driver Search at Estoril, the energy drinks giant has added Swiss karting standout Chiara Bättig and Eurocup-3 leader Mattia Colnaghi to its junior roster.
Bättig, 15, might be the headline grabber. She’d never driven a single-seater before Estoril, yet looked right at home in the RB overalls. Rather than funneling her into the all-female F1 Academy, Red Bull’s opted for the deep end: a mixed-grid Formula 4 campaign in 2026. It’s a statement of intent, and it suits her own ambitions. “It means a lot to me to be a Red Bull junior driver,” she said. “It’s my first time in a single-seater car, we adapted really well and I’m happy about that. My ultimate goal is to reach Formula 1 and become World Champion… I hope to inspire young female karters to take the same journey I am making now.”
Alongside her is Colnaghi, 17, the Italian-Argentine hotshoe fresh off a Spanish F4 title and currently leading Eurocup-3 by 12 points over Valerio Rinicella with Spa, Jerez and Barcelona still to run. He’s been pencilled in for Formula 3 in 2026—classic Red Bull ladder pacing for a driver who’s looked sharp and composed all year.
Helmut Marko, who still runs Red Bull’s famously unforgiving driver pipeline, didn’t hide his satisfaction. Bättig’s pace “coming straight from karting” impressed, he said, and the expectation is straightforward for both recruits: be frontrunners and, if possible, win. That’s the Red Bull way—no warm-up laps.
The Estoril assessment wasn’t just about lap times. As ever, Red Bull put candidates through on- and off-track scrutiny before deciding who to back. It’s a program with a track record that needs no dressing up: Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen became World Champions from this system, while Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly turned it into Grand Prix wins. The bar’s high by design.
Bättig’s path is notable. Choosing F4 over F1 Academy keeps her shoulder-to-shoulder with the wider field at a formative stage, and if she adapts as quickly as she did in Portugal, the move could pay off. Colnaghi, meanwhile, already looks like a safe bet to keep climbing—get the Eurocup-3 job done, then hit F3 running.
Two rookies, two very different entry points, one familiar message from Red Bull: if you’re in, you’re expected to deliver.
