Jaime Alguersuari says he and fellow Spaniard and current Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz were never suited to the Red Bull system of developing young drivers.
In 2015, Carlos Sainz debuted in F1 alongside Max Verstappen. The two drivers were confirmed to drive for Scuderia Toro Rosso and had been promoted straight from the Red Bull driver academy.
Sainz had great ambitions to win the title driving for Red Bull in the future. He scored points in his F1 debut, but his time with Toro Rosso was short-lived.
While Verstappen would go on to complete 157 race starts and 31 race wins for the Red Bull franchises, Sainz was left out of the team. And another fellow Spaniard says he could understand why Sainz never felt at home at Toro Rosso.
Jaime Alguersuari was another Spaniard who previously drove for Toro Rosso. He debuted at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix becoming the youngest driver to achieve the feat at age 19.
Alguersuari drove for the team for another 3 more years before being let go of his services in 2011. He stated, “I think neither I nor Carlos ever liked Red Bull.”
Alguersuari said, “They helped us because there was talent and we were worth it. But deep down they are looking for another driver profile.”
The Spaniard says, he and Carlos were fast on the track. But like many other drivers did not fit in the Red Bull ecosystem, who preferred a certain style of racers.
Alguersuari adds, “I say it with my hand on my heart. Red Bull wants to find drivers in the middle of a lake, who are not known, not their family, not their friends, and who only depend on Red Bull.”
Why Carlos Sainz never fit in Red Bull
Both Jaime Alguersuari and Carlos Sainz were from prominent motorsport families. Sainz was the son of double World Rally Champion, Carlos Sainz Sr. And Jaime was the son of Jaime Alguersuari, Sr., a former motorcyclist and racing driver.
Jaime felt the pressure of coming from a racing background is not preferred by Red Bull. He says, both Sainz and he were good drivers and weren’t given any preferential treatment because of their dads.
Alguersuari said, “It was not the case of a driver whose father was a promoter of the categories before Formula 1 and who had a position and a vote in the industry. And in the case of Carlos, more of the same.
He adds, “In my case, the favourite was my team-mate, Brendon Hartley. But I won Formula 3 and they had no choice.
Jaime was let go from Toro Rosso but he did not understand why, “At Toro Rosso, I was beating Sebastien Buemi. But he continued to be helped. Adrian Newey said that I had rejected the option of the third driver. That was not true, nobody had said anything to me.”
The arc is similar to Sainz who was shipped to Renault despite consistent results in 2016 and 2017. He would score points in his first race with the French team. And eventually, make a move to McLaren and later Ferrari.
Sainz secured his first win in the 2021 British GP as a Ferrari driver. While Alguersuari left racing in 2015 and is now a DJ and is now a well-known music artist in Spain.
