By Alex Johnston
Red Bull announced another driver to join their Junior Team this week, in the shape of Barbadian teenager Zane Maloney, but just why have the reigning World Champions placed faith in the 19 year old?
Going back to 2019, Maloney made his single seater debut racing in the F4 British Championship, winning the title for Carlin Racing by 20 points ahead of his nearest rival, taking 10 wins, 15 podiums and 6 pole positions in a very strong single seater debut year, racing against the likes of current GB3 champion Luke Browning, Louis Foster, who is racing now in the IndyCar feeder series ladder and won the IndyPro 2000 Championship this year, and as well as current GB3 drivers Sebastian Alvarez, Alex Connor and Roberto Faria.
📸 British F4 champion in his rookie single seater season.
In 2020, Maloney moved up a level to race in the Euroformula Open Championship where he mustered up an 8th place finish as he remained part of the Carlin family and while battling against the likes of Yifei Ye, that years champion, an ELMS champion and now an established name on in sportscar racing as well as against drivers like current and former F3 drivers Lukas Dunner, Cameron Das, Ido Cohen and Ayrton Simmons.
📸 Yifei Ye(top), and Cameron Das(bottom), are both Euroformula Open Championship champions.
A season in FRECA for 2021 followed against names he'd become familiar with for the best two years as several of these drivers would follow him into Formula 3 in 2022. Maloney would end the year 4th, behind champion Gregoire Saucy, Hadrien David and Paul Aron but ahead of Franco Colapinto, Isack Hadjar and David Vidales who would also step up and win in F3 in 2022. Perhaps most impressively, Maloney would win on the streets of Monaco, becoming the first driver from the Caribbean to win at the historic circuit.
📸 Leading in Monaco.
Announced by Trident for a rookie year in F3, Maloney would have a 'duck to water' kind of year, starting the first race with a 4th place finish in Bahrain, followed up with a pole position and sixth place finish in Imola, but missed out on a win that weekend after spinning out while leading.
📸 Zane started the season well, but had a couple of hiccups along the way, including a spin in Imola.
The second half of the season saw the Bajan driver kick into gear, taking 3 feature race wins in a row to end the season, becoming the first driver to do so and in doing so, pulling himself into championship contention despite a scary, heavy crash with Oliver Goethe's Campos in the sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps, before winning the feature race the next day.
📸 Winning in Spa. Despite a crash the resulted in this damage the day before;
Ultimately, Maloney would miss out on the title to ART's Victor Martins by just 5 points.
A debut in Formula 2 would follow as the 19 year old replaced Calan Williams at Trident for the Abu Dhabi finale, finishing 15th and 16th as he got to grips with the Formula 2 spec cars. At the end of the season he partnered Enzo Fittipaldi, who also has joined the Red Bull set up, at Carlin for the end of season test, leading to speculation that the two would form that lineup in 2023.
📸 An F2 debut in Abu Dhabi ended a great year for Zane, but more good news was to follow.
Since then, Maloney has now joined the Red Bull team, not only as a junior but as an official reserve driver for the top team.
📸 New surroundings.
Maloneys rapid rise shows the talent he has, from winning his rookie single seater title to overcoming a heavy crash to win a race the following day and everything in between. How far can he go?
📸 Leading a Trident train.
Best of luck to Zane for 2023, and if you happen to read this Zane, get in touch so I can interview you!
📸 Image credit: Zane Maloney, Sky Sports F1, Formula Motorsport Limited, Trident Team.
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