How Red Bull's junior programme lost its mojo - and then found it again

With the exception of Lewis Hamilton and McLaren, Formula 1 teams having full-blown young driver programmes in the early 2000s was something of a rarity. 

Sure, every team would have its eye on a young driver here and there, and maybe put them in for Friday practice, but it was the arrival of Red Bull that transformed the young driver landscape. 

After taking over Jaguar and rebranding it as Red Bull for 2005, in '06, Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz took control of Minardi and slapped 'Toro Rosso' badges everywhere - and suddenly there was a clear pathway into F1 for young drivers.

In the near 20 years since, Christian Klien, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Danill Kvyat, Max Verstappen, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly have all been promoted to the senior Red Bull squad with Scott Speed, Sebastien Buemi, Jaime Alguersauri, Brendon Hartley, Jean-Eric Vergne, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson all being given chances at Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri/RB. 

That is 16 drivers, seven (including Lawson) have been given F1 chances by advisor Dr. Helmut Marko - but in recent years, the cupboard has looked a little bare. 

The Red Bull drought

The rot in the Red Bull programme began to set in around the end of 2017 after next cab off the rank Gasly was given his shot, in place of Kvyat at Toro Rosso, who was dropped after the Singapore GP. 

Sainz also departed for Renault following the Japanese GP, with Gasly also forced to miss the United States due to Super Formula commitments in Japan, where he missed out on the title by half a point following the cancellation of the round at Suzuka due to Typhoon Lan. 

This meant Kvyat was drafted back in a for single race, with discarded junior Brendon Hartley the square peg in the round-hole solution after new IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden rejected the chance to trundle around at the back of the field. 

In the space of five races, Toro Rosso used four different driver pairings, finally settling upon Gasly and Hartley, but Hartley was only ever a stop-gap. 

For 2019 following Gasly's promotion to Red Bull - a year early in Christian Horner's view - to replace Daniel Ricciardo and Hartley's departure, fellow former reject Albon was drafted in from Formula E with Nissan as Kvyat was brought back yet again. 

2019 was the year that Lando Norris and George Russell both made their F1 debuts with McLaren and Williams, surely two drivers who a few years previously would have been plastered with Red Bull stickers instead of McLaren and Mercedes ones.

In effect, Red Bull was being left to pick among its own discarded drivers as the other teams was beating it at its own game - signing young drivers up and giving them a chance in F1. 

Charles Leclerc is another example with Ferrari of a young protege being given the Red Bull treatment of 'a chance in F1, and sink or swim with it' but without being a Red Bull driver.

As the pool of talent dried up and Gasly and Albon were discarded after being demolished by Verstappen, it was forced to look outside its pool for the first time since Mark Webber joined in 2007 when Sergio Perez was signed for '21.

Herein lies another problem, Verstappen basically broke the entire programme. 

Marko's viewpoint, an entirely fair one it must be said, is that: 'if he can do it, why can't you?' and if someone proved not up to the job, as Gasly and Albon found out, would simply be discarded and the next player loaded for a chance.

But in doing this, you burn through your cards very quickly and eventually, you run out of drivers. 

Three new young drivers

The likes of Dan Ticktum, Pato O'Ward, and Dennis Hauger were tipped for F1 at one point, but the next in line was deemed to be Estonia's Juri Vips. 

However, in June 2022, Vips was caught using an offensive word on a livestream and subsequently was fired from the programme, moving Lawson up one spot to the reserve driver role. 

He filled this role admirably when deputising for the injured Ricciardo at five 2023 races, scoring points in Singapore, and was annoyed to miss out on the full-time '24 race seat to Ricciardo. 

The Australian enjoys backing from Horner, but in a time past, under-performing drivers would be replaced instantly by the next in line. Lawson also is believed to have an offer on the table from Audi, and is prepared to walk away from the Red Bull family if it leads to a full-time seat in '25. 

In other words, Red Bull must use or lose Lawson. 

If it were to lose him, there are two drivers in Formula 2 and Formula 3 who are catching Marko's attention: Isack Hadjar and Arvid Lindblad. 

Hadjar is currently leading the F2 standings and has three feature races win to his name, whilst 16-year-old Lindblad is receiving rave reviews.

It was Red Bull who wrote to the FIA recently to see if the 18-year-old requirement for a super licence could be waived, and not Mercedes for Andrea Kimi Antonelli. 

Lindblad completed the rare double of sprint and feature race win at Silverstone for Prema last time out, and is just six points off the F3 summit. 

It has been a fallow time for the Red Bull junior programme following Verstappen's crushing of the system, but the rot appears to be healing with three drivers in place in the pecking order, ready to move up a step. 

But for that to happen, the programme must get back to basics and be as ruthless as it once was, and that means unless Ricciardo shows improved performances quickly, cutting him and giving the next in line their chance.