Alpine Academy
Program to support young racing drivers through their careers
The Alpine Academy, formerly known as the RF1 Driver Programme, Renault Driver Development and Renault Sport Academy, is a driver development programme to support young racing drivers through their careers. The programme was created by Renault F1 in 2002.
In 2011, the programme was renamed LRGP Academy, following the rebranding of the team to "Lotus Renault GP". In 2012, the programme was renamed Lotus F1 Team iRace Professional Programme and 2013-2015, the programme was renamed Lotus F1 Junior Team. In 2021, the programme was renamed Alpine Academy after the rebranding of the Renault F1 team into Alpine F1 Team. In March 2022, the Alpine Affiliates programme was launched as a support to drivers starting their motorsport careers, and is intended to be a feeder for the Alpine Academy. However, it was merged into Alpine Academy at the start of 2023.
01Current drivers
| Driver | Years | Current Series | Titles as Alpine junior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kush Maini | 2023, | FIA Formula 2 Championship | none |
| Gabriele Minì | 2023, | FIA Formula 2 Championship | none |
| Kabir Anurag | 2024, | Formula Regional Middle East Trophy Formula Regional European Championship |
none |
| Keanu Al Azhari | 2025, | Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship Eurocup-3 |
Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship (2026) |
| Nina Gademan | 2025, | F1 Academy | none |
| Sukhmani Kaur Khera | 2025, | {X30-J} (British Kart Championships) | none |
| Ilie Tristan Crisan | 2025- | Karting (OK) | None |
| Alex Dunne | 2026, | FIA Formula 2 Championship | none |
02Graduates to Formula 1
This list contains the drivers that have graduated to Formula 1 while being supported by Renault, Lotus Renault, or Alpine. Therefore, drivers who have had support in the past and entered Formula 1 through other means are not included. For example, both Zhou Guanyu and Oscar Piastri were members of the Alpine Academy, however, they broke their ties with the academy to pursue a graduation to Formula 1 with another team.
| Driver | Academy experience | F1 experience with Renault/Lotus/Alpine | F1 experience with other teams | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Former series | |||
| Heikki Kovalainen | 2002-2005 | British Formula 3 Championship (2002) World Series by Nissan (2003, 2004) GP2 Series (2005) |
2007 2013 |
McLaren (2008, 2009) Team Lotus (2010, 2011) Caterham (2012) |
| Romain Grosjean | 2006-2009 | Formula 3 Euro Series (2006, 2007) GP2 Asia Series (2008) GP2 Series (2008, 2009) |
2009 2012, 2015 |
Haas (2016, 2020) |
| Jack Doohan | 2022-2024 | FIA Formula 2 Championship (2022, 2023) | 2024, 2025 | , N/a |
03Former drivers
Renault / Lotus Renault GP (2002-2011)
- Championship titles highlighted in bold.
Lotus F1 (2012-2015)
Renault Sport (2016-2020)
- Championship titles highlighted in bold.
Alpine F1 (2021-)
- Championship titles highlighted in bold.
Rac(H)er Karting Programme
| Driver | Years | Series competed |
|---|---|---|
| Chiara Bättig | 2023 | OK Junior Switzerland |
| Aiva Anagnostiadis | 2023-2024 | Australian Kart Championship Rotax Winter Cup IAME Euro Serie |
| Lisa Billard | 2023-2024 | South Garda Winter Cup - OKJ WSK Super Master Series - OKJ Championnat de France - Nationale Champions of the Future - OKJ CIK-FIA Academy Trophy |
| Mariachiara Nardelli | 2023-2024 | Italian ACI Karting Championship |
| Angélina Proenca | 2023-2024 | IAME Euro Series |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Alpine Academy”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Alpine Academy Logo.png by Alpine Academy, PD
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