July 27 (Reuters) - Red Bull have hired Gwen Lagrue, who worked with Formula One leader Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes, to run its junior driver programme from next year.
The move, announced in a statement on Monday, fills a gap left by the departure last year of Helmut Marko.
Frenchman Lagrue, 50, joined Mercedes in 2015 and helped guide current F1 drivers Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon and George Russell through the junior programme as well as Antonelli, who is still only 19.
Before that, he helped set up the Renault driver development programme.
"Gwen will be responsible for leading the Red Bull Junior Programme, overseeing the identification, development and progression of the next generation of F1 talent," Red Bull said.
Austrian Marko helped bring 20 drivers into Formula One, where Red Bull have two teams, including four-times champions Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
