22-year-old Mercedes youngster is desperate to be a Formula 1 driver in 2025

Follow us on Google Discover

The race to get onto the Formula 1 grid in 2025 is already hotting up and Mercedes academy driver Frederik Vesti has thrown his name into the ring.

Frederik Vesti finished runner-up in Formula 2 to Theo Pourchaire last season while also testing for Mercedes during free practice.

Speaking to Danish outlet BT.dk, Vesti has admitted that he’s about to embark on a very different campaign.

Teams are more and more often turning to their driver academies as potential options in Formula 1.

Williams brought in Logan Sargeant last season, even though Felipe Drugovich, Pourchaire and Liam Lawson all finished above him in the championship.

AlphaTauri went against their normal strategy of promoting from within to hand Nyck de Vries a seat although that experiment only lasted 10 races.

Frederik Vesti is the latest driver hoping to take that path and wants to be in Formula 1 in 2025.

Considering both of Mercedes’s current drivers are signed up until the end of next season, he’s likely to accept a seat anywhere on the grid.

It means he’s going to have to be at his very best this year to turn the heads of other manufacturers.

Vesti aiming for Formula 1 seat in 2025

Asked about his future, Vesti said: “The coming year will be very different. I’m not going to drive Formula 2,’ he says.

However, it is not yet known which seat Vesti will have in the coming season, but the young Danish racing driver can reveal one special goal.

“The goal is for me to drive Formula 1 in 2025. I will fight really hard for that to happen.”

Vesti will be racing in European Le Mans this year, racing in the LMP2 class alongside Alejandro Garcia and Ferdinand Habsburg.

There are only six races in that series and Vesti might be looking for another drive alongside that one in 2024.

He’s up against some familiar names including Robert Kubica, Will Stevens and Super Formula champion Ritomo Miyata.

It’s going to be very difficult for Vesti to find a seat in Formula 1 for 2025.

Drivers very rarely make the transition from European Le Mans straight into F1.

However, Mercedes and Williams have a strong partnership and if Williams are looking for replacements for Alex Albon if he earns a drive elsewhere and Sargeant if he fails to improve, then Vesti might stand a chance.

He’ll also be looking over his shoulder though, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli bursting onto the scene in F2 now.