The 15-year-old amassed a number of notable trophies in his karting career, including the German championship title, which he won in a close battle against Mick Schumacher.

He joined Mucke for a dual campaign in Italian F4 and German F4 in 2015, albeit skipped the first round of the latter championship because of being under the required age.

Despite that, he wound up topping German F4's rookie standings - and finished fourth in the Italian series, with race wins in both.

"I am very happy that I can make the next step in my motorsport career," said Beckmann.

"I'm also really happy that I am a part of the Red Bull family as a Red Bull athlete. I want to thank everyone who believes in me."

The German is Mucke's first signing for the 2016 season and continues the squad's practice of promoting its leading entry-level drivers to F3 seats - with ADAC Formel Masters frontrunners Pascal Wehrlein and Maximilian Gunther having benefitted from similar moves in the past.

Beckmann, however, is to contest only eight of the 10 rounds of the European F3 series next year as he turns 16 just a few days after the second weekend at the Hungaroring and is not permitted to race before that.

2016 European F3 field so far: