Russian Time was only officially confirmed as a competitor in the 2018 F2 season on Thursday, having been left off the initial entry list that was released last November.

The team will run Markelov – a veteran of 86 races in GP2/F2 – for a fifth successive season and has partnered him with Makino, who raced in the Formula 3 European championship last year.

"We had a strong season in 2017 when I won five times and finished second to Charles Leclerc in the championship, so it would be nice to go one better," said Markelov as the news was announced.

Makino – a member of Honda's Formula Dream Project (HFDP) young driver scheme – raced in Japanese Formula 4, Formula 3 and Super GT before driving for HitechGP in Euro F3 last season.

He finished 15th in the standings and took a best finish of third place in the third Red Bull Ring race.

Makino will compete alongside another of Honda's junior drivers in F2 in 2018, as Nirei Fukuzumi is dovetailing a selected programme of Super Formula events with a second-tier category campaign for Arden International.

The 2018 season will be Russian Time's sixth year competing at GP2/F2 level.

The team has won 16 races during that time and also won the teams' championship in 2013, its first year competing in GP2.

"As champions we are looking forward to competing with Artem in car number one and Tadasuke driving number two in 2018 in what looks like being another exciting, closely-fought championship," said team principal Svetlana Strelnikova.

2018 F2 entry list: