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Red Bull halves junior team

Macau GP winner Alex Lynn has been drafted into the junior team and will race in GP3 © Getty Images

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Red Bull has cut its junior team from six to three drivers for 2014, with Carlos Sainz Jr the only member to stay on from this year's line-up.

Sainz will be joined by Macau GP winner Alex Lynn and Formula Renault 2.0 champion Pierre Gasly. Former junior team member Daniil Kvyat has been promoted to a Toro Rosso race seat, while Antonio Felix da Costa has been named as one of Red Bull's F1 reserves. Tom Blomqvist, Beitske Visser and Callan O'Keeffe have all been dropped from the programme.

Lynn, from Essex in the UK, will race in GP3 with Carlin next year while Frenchman Gasly and Spaniard Sainz will drive in the Formula One feeder series Formula Renault 3.5.

"I think that it is obviously fantastic to be privileged enough to join the team that has produced so many Formula One drivers and that includes the greatest driver of our generation so far," Lynn said. "In terms of car performance it is obviously a faster car but I believe that I can take the experience that I have gathered in the last two years in Formula 3 and in Formula Renault and do a good job as quickly as possible in GP3. I think that with the strength of the Carlin team and my experience we should be able to do a good job straight away."

Sainz, who drove in GP3 and Formula Renault 3.5 this year, is looking forward to focusing on just one series with DAMS, the team that delivered Kevin Magnussen to the title in 2013.

"I think that it can be a very good thing, just to focus on one series and try to get the most out of it instead of trying to do several championships in different cars," he said. "It will be nine races, nine finals for me, I really want to fight for the title, to focus only in this category and try to win it because I know that if I do well it can be very good for my future."

Gasly will race with Arden and is looking forward to the step up in performance to Formula Renault 3.5.

"So I will have to work hard during this winter but I am very motivated and I think it is possible with Arden. The biggest difference is in the aerodynamics, there is more power of course but this is not too complicated to manage, I think that to get the maximum potential from the car in one lap is quite hard, you have to be on the limit everywhere and there is a lot of potential in the aerodynamics and this is where the performance lies."

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