July 27 (Reuters) - ⁠Red Bull have hired Gwen Lagrue, ⁠who worked with Formula One ‌leader Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes, to run its junior driver programme from next year.

The move, ​announced in a statement ⁠on Monday, fills ⁠a gap left by the departure last ⁠year ‌of Helmut Marko.

Frenchman Lagrue, 50, joined Mercedes in 2015 ⁠and helped guide current F1 drivers ​Alex Albon, ‌Esteban Ocon and George Russell through ⁠the ​junior programme as well as Antonelli, who is still only 19.

Before that, ⁠he helped set up the ​Renault driver development programme.

"Gwen will be responsible for leading the Red Bull Junior ⁠Programme, overseeing the identification, development and progression of the next generation of F1 talent," Red Bull said.

Austrian Marko ​helped bring 20 drivers ⁠into Formula One, where Red Bull ​have two teams, including ‌four-times champions Sebastian Vettel ​and Max Verstappen.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)