Renault F1 junior Jack Aitken steps up to F2 with ART

Aitken, who finished second to Mercedes F1 junior George Russell in GP3 last year, stays with the French squad where he competed in the third-tier category.

Speaking at the launch of the 2018 class of Renault Academy members, Aitken said: "Our aim has to be fight at the top and go for some wins.

"We had quite a good year last year in GP3 together and to carry on with the same guys is always nice - so I think we both expect to do quite well."

Also announced at the event at Renault's F1 base at Enstone were the 2018 race programmes of the other six Academy members.

The 2017 Formula Renault Eurocup champion Sacha Fenestraz, who is one of three new Academy members for this year, will race for Carlin in European Formula 3.

Max Fewtrell, a 2017 BRDC McLaren Autosport Award finalist, will stay in the Formula Renault Eurocup for a second successive campaign after finishing sixth with one win last season.

Fewtrell will race for the R-ace GP team alongside Victor Martins - the 2017 French Formula 4 runner-up who joins the Academy for 2018.

Christian Lundgaard, the 2017 SMP F4 and Spanish F4 champion, will race in the Eurocup for MP Motorsport.

Sun Yue Yang, who finished 18th in the Formula Renault NEC series last year, will switch to the BRDC British Formula 3 series for 2018, where he will compete with Carlin.

The third new entry to the Academy is 2017 French F4 champion Arthur Rougier, who will compete in the Eurocup for Fortec Motorsport.