Jan.22 (GMM) Two promising teenagers have stepped up a gear in their drive to reach formula one.

Brazilian Felipe Nasr, 17, has been signed by Robertson Management, the company run by father and son Dave and Steve Robertson who moved eventual champions Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen onto the grid.

Nasr, the new European Formula BMW champion, will also drive for the Raikkonen-Robertson team in British F3 this year.

"We've always been very particular regarding the drivers we get involved with," said Steve Robertson, referring to the fact that Nasr is only the third driver to be managed by his outfit.

"I see a lot of the qualities (in Nasr) that I saw in Kimi. We don't just want a driver who's going to get to F1 -- that's not good enough for us. We want a driver who's got the potential to be world champion," he added.

Meanwhile, 14-year-old Dutch karter Nyck de Vries will be managed by Lewis Hamilton's father Anthony, after signing on to McLaren's driver development programme.

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