Newey Jr gets F3 seat for 2016

Harrison Newey, the son of Red Bull Formula 1 technical genius Adrian (pictured at right with his son), has cemented his deal to graduate to the Formula 3 European Championship this season.

The 17-year-old Newey will line up with Van Amersfoort Racing for his second full season of car racing, after finishing runner-up in the 2015 BRDC Formula 4 Championship and also racing with VAR in German F4.

Newey has spent the winter competing in the Indian-run MRF Challenge and completing several F3 tests with Dutch team VAR, which has switched to Mercedes power for this season and has already announced Pedro Piquet and Callum Ilott.

"I know Frits [van Amersfoort] and the team well now after competing with them in Germany last year and also doing my first tests in an F3 car," he said. "VAR will be the ideal grounding for me to further my racing ambitions and to acquire all the attributes to gain as much experience as possible with a new car and mostly new tracks."

Team boss van Amersfoort added: "Of course we know him from F4 last season and we enjoyed working with him greatly – he is talented, capable and dedicated.

"Harrison's work ethic will give him a good advantage as there is no magic in F3; it's all about hard work and determination."

VAR, which ran Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc to race wins in 2014 and '15 respectively, also plans to run a fourth car in what would be its biggest European F3 squad yet.

Originally on Autosport.com