Red Bull have been called out on numerous occasion for their exploitation of young drivers in their driver academy. The team imposes a high-stakes high-pressure environment on their drivers. This is why a lot of young talents keep emerging from the Austrian team and get forgotten within a couple of years.
The same was seen in the case of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastian Buemi who were teammates at Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso from 2009-11. However, the pair did not enjoy much success in the sport.
After amassing just 60 points in 3 seasons, they were dropped to make way for Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo. Alguersuari chose to retire from racing at 25 to become a DJ.
While Buemi moved to Formula E and later Endurance racing where he enjoyed massive success. Which prompted the Spaniard to reminisce about Red Bull’s decision to drop Buemi from their line-up.
Jaime Alguersuari reveals how Red Bull fumbled a talent like Buemi
Alguersuari claims Red Bull missed a massive opportunity to promote a talented driver like Buemi to their main team. The Swiss driver left F1 after being told by the team that he wasn’t a winner.
However, he switched his sport after F1 dejection. Buemi became the 2015-16 Formula E champion and won the WEC thrice with Toyota in 2014, 2019, and 2022. He has won the 24 hours of Le Mans 4 times, including a hattrick between 2018-2020.
Buemi’s success after being dropped by Red Bull recently came to the notice of his former teammate. The Spaniard pointed out how the 34-year-old managed to keep pushing ahead despite the F1 setback.
The driver turned DJ tweeted, “Just having breakfast and realized something. 11 years ago we were told we were being replaced because we weren’t winners. Let’s forget about me for a second but I found out Buemi, my former teammate in F1 keeps on winning.”
He further praised his former teammate saying, ” I forgot how many world titles he has already to his back. I’m not just happy and proud of him but as time goes by I realized how many races and maybe titles he would’ve won at Red Bull racing F1.”
Alguersuari claimed F1 exit was a traumatic moment in his life
Alguersuari cleared the fact that it was only his personal opinion regarding his former teammate. Just like him, he claims the WEC champion too doesn’t have any grudges or regrets from his Red Bull days
He added, “This is only my personal view of my teammate Buemi based on statistics and facts. I do not want to intend what my performance would ve been however, it was also written! Ciao!”
The team gave the Spaniard no explanation before sacking him in 2011. The setback was quite traumatic for Alguersuari who claimed to have seen nightmares of Helmut Marko yelling at him.
However, the DJ cleared later that it was just Red Bull’s ethos to demand much more than necessary from its athletes. He stated that he had no hard feelings toward Marko and always considered him a mentor.
Recently, former Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat stated he was offered a seat at Ferrari in 2016. Nevertheless, he continued to stay loyal to Red Bull. In return, the team relegated him back to Toro Rosso after a string of poor performances and dropped him from the seat in 2017.
Kvyat, Alguersuari, and Buemi’s stories show how much young drivers are pushed to at an early point in their careers. Several other F1 drivers quit the Austrian team after facing mistreatment. Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, Brendon Hartley, Scott Speed, and many other drivers have gone down the same route.
