Alex Lynn has confirmed that he has left the Red Bull Junior Programme after becoming Williams Martini Racing’s development driver.

The 21-year-old from Dunmow has taken a major step towards his dream of becoming a Formula One driver by joining Williams and will be heavily involved with their race team during the 2015 F1 season alongside competing in the GP2 Series with the DAMS Racing team.

However, his move to Williams means he has now exited the Red Bull Junior Programme that he has been a part of since December 2013.

Lynn won the 2014 GP3 Series title in a Red Bull-liveried car and had been touted as a possible driver with Red Bull’s junior F1 team – Toro Rosso – this season.

However, he lost out as Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jnr were handed Toro Rosso drives for the 2015 campaign and Lynn has decided that leaving the Red Bull programme is the best option for him.

He said: “My attacthment to Red Bull has now come to an end.

“It was a very amicable decision for both of us.

“Fair enough, they made their decision over appointing their F1 drivers and I knew that there would be no opportunity there to race with Red Bull in the next two years and that would be too late for me.

“They appreciate that.

“They were happy for me to stay, but they said they knew they couldn’t stop me from chasing my dream.”

Lynn is excited by the future prospects that Williams now offer him, but said that he was thankful for the progression that being in the Red Bull Junior Programme had given him.

He added: “I’ll always be grateful to them for the opportunity they gave me last year as it has helped bring me to where I am today.

“Without that backing it might have been different and things like that and my win at the Macau Grand Prix (in 2013) have all brought me to the present situation.

“The snowball effect of things you do in this sport is huge and I’m extremely thankful to Red Bull.

“I’ve left them on good terms.”

Lynn is set to head to Jerez with the Williams team next week for the opening F1 testing session of the season where Williams will see a first outing of their 2015 FW37 race car.