03/06/2021
NEWS STORY
Mercedes has announced that it has signed 13-year-old Chinese karter, Yuanpu Cui to its junior squad.
Cui was born in Xi’an in 2008 and first drove a go-kart at the age of six, after his father Hao bought him a kart for fun. He subsequently started competing in small local competitions.
Racing is in his blood because his father was also a racing driver. Cui first began racing professionally in 2014 with events in China and by 2016, he finished second in the Chinese Rotax series.
Over the next few seasons, he began to expand his racing outside of China, competing in events all around the world. This included podium finishes in Italian National events, WSK Open Cup, WSK Final Cup, the ROK Cup Superfinal and WSK Euro Series in the 60 Mini and Mini ROK classes, across the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
In 2020, he picked up a P2 position in the 31st Andrea Margutti Trophy in OK Junior, picked up victories and podiums in the WSK Champions Cup in 60 Mini and scored podiums in the WSK Super Master Series in 60 Mini. He also achieved a podium in the 2020 Florida Winter Tour in Mini ROK.
This year, he continues racing in OK Junior classes with Kart Republic (Argenti Motorsport), competing in a number of different karting series.
"We're really excited to welcome Yuanpu Cui to the Mercedes family as the newest signing of our young driver programme," said Gwen Lagrue, Driver Development Advisor for the Mercedes F1 Team. "We're proud to be helping young drivers from a diverse range of countries and backgrounds on their rise up the motorsport ladder.
"Yuanpu certainly caught our attention and has shown great promise during his karting career so far. He's the top karting talent from China and there hasn't been a Chinese F1 driver yet, so we're looking forward to seeing how Yuanpu progresses and helping him move up the racing ranks."