Joshua Dürksen in the Mercedes: Germany’s best young talent comes from Paraguay

Apart from Audi ace Nico Hülkenberg, the outlook for German single-seater talent looks bleak. In international Formula 3, for example, there are around four Japanese, four Italians and three French drivers, as well as drivers from China, South Korea, Poland, Finland, Colombia and Thailand – but not a single German. That says it all about the promotion of young talent in Germany.

In Formula 2, the German-Danish driver Oliver Goethe – born in London and living in Monaco – is struggling to make headway. The most successful German – in inverted commas – is Joshua Dürksen, aged 22, from Paraguay. His grandparents emigrated to South America before the Second World War and settled in the country bordered by Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil.

Dürksen will be competing in his third Formula 2 season in 2026 and has already won eight F2 races. Joshua, who speaks excellent German, has now become the first Paraguayan to drive a Formula 1 car – he tested a 2025 Mercedes GP car for Mercedes at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal.

Dürksen mit dem 2025er F1-Mercedes beim Test in Portugal

Foto: Mercedes

Dürksen completed 187 laps (around 875 km) over two days and enthused: “I’ll never forget this day for the rest of my life. Every young racing driver dreams of driving a Grand Prix car.”

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“The engine power, the brakes, the cornering speeds – it’s all on a completely new level. I enjoyed every single lap to the full.”

The 22-year-old received high praise from Bradley Lord, Mercedes’ deputy team principal: “Joshua did an exemplary job during the test. He worked through the programme with remarkable tyre management, great professionalism and an enormous willingness to learn. He built up confidence step by step and worked very efficiently with the engineers.”

Joshua Dürksen will be meeting up with the Mercedes team again soon: Formula 2 will also be on the supporting programme at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend. In addition, the Paraguayan with German roots regularly uses the race simulator at Mercedes.