What happened next? The nine Red Bull drivers who didn’t land the top seat

Scott Speed

Scott Speed had a particularly good aptonym for F1, and became the first American driver to compete in the sport since Michael Andretti when he was signed up by Red Bull to drive for the newly-established Toro Rosso squad in 2006.

A product of the Red Bull Driver Search, a programme launched in 2002 by Dietrich Mateschitz, the goal of the programme was to identify and promote young American racing talent, with the ambition of placing an American driver in Formula 1. Speed emerged as the most successful candidate from this initiative.

With Red Bull backing him through his learning curve in junior categories in Europe, Speed earned a spot as a test driver for the Red Bull Racing team before being given the nod to join Toro Rosso – he was paired with 2005 Red Bull Racing driver Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Speed made his F1 debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2006, in an uncompetitive Toro Rosso fitted with a detuned V10 engine. Results proved hard to come by, with his best finish being ninth at the Australian Grand Prix.

2007 was more of the same, with points eluding him as he struggled to outpace Lizzi, while tensions had set in with team boss Franz Toso and then-team co-owner Gerhard Berger.

With Speed publicly criticising the team, it led to now-infamous reports of a physical altercation between Tost and Speed at the Nurburgring – Tost later denied this happened, saying he had been annoyed by Speed focusing on a slow pitstop rather than on his own mistakes and that he had grabbed Speed by the shoulder.

Last year, Speed spoke to the Beyond the Grid podcast about the ending of his time in F1, saying his slide off at Turn 1 at the Nurburgring had irritated Tost greatly.

“He asked what happened in Turn 1,” Speed explained.

“I said ‘Well, the same thing that happened to everybody else down there. I hydroplaned off the track. What do you mean what happened? There’s seven cars sitting out there.’

“And he says ‘No, not everybody, just the w*****s.’ I told him to ‘Eff off’ and I just totally dismissed him. He came chasing after me and let me know how displeased he was.”

Red Bull turned to Sebastian Vettel for the rest of the season, dropping Speed in their Toro Rosso line-up.

Despite the nature of his departure from Toro Rosso and F1, Speed retained strong links with Red Bull as he pursued a career in NASCAR and RallyCross (where he has won multiple titles).

“I met with Dietrich Mateschitz soon after, I said ‘I want to go home. Can we race NASCAR?’” Speed revealed.

“He was fully supportive and I started a really humbling journey. The dissolution of the Scott Speed ego began at that moment.”

Sebastien Bourdais

The French driver was already highly established by the time Red Bull came calling in 2008, with Bourdais having dominated the ChampCar championship between 2004 and ’07.

With Toro Rosso attempting something different having run rookies and inexperienced drivers during its first two seasons in F1, the signing of Bourdais and his pedigree made him an interesting experiment.

But, while Toro Rosso was seeking experience and maybe some flashes of the talent that had made a superstar of Bourdais in the United States, the majority of Toro Rosso’s successes went to the inexperienced Sebastian in the other car as Vettel showed the promise that would make him a dominant F1 World Champion between 2010 and ’13.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom – he finished eighth on his debut and was running in fourth at the Belgian Grand Prix until the late rain dropped him to seventh. With Vettel getting his breakthrough win at Monza, the German driver finished with 35 points as Bourdais managed just four.

The 2009 regulation changes weren’t the only new dynamic for the following season. With Vettel promoted to Red Bull Racing, Bourdais was teamed with Sebastien Buemi and, once again, it was the less distinguished Seb who started to gain the upper hand.

By mid-2009, Toro Rosso had had enough. With Bourdais expected to show more pace and mettle due to his illustrious background, he perhaps wasn’t given the same leeway another rookie may have been and, after the German Grand Prix, Red Bull replaced him with Jaime Alguersuari.

Bourdais continues to race, having returned to sportcars and IndyCar in the intervening years – he has since become a class winner at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2016 and, only last year, finished third in the GTP class of the IMSA series.

Jaime Alguersuari

The Spaniard became the then-youngest F1 driver in the sport’s history when he was called up to Toro Rosso to replace Bourdais.

He had fared well in the junior categories, winning the British Formula 3 championship in 2008, and was competing in Formula Renault 3.5, in eighth place overall, when he got the Red Bull call. Interestingly, Alguersuari finished off his season in Formula Renault 3.5 after getting his F1 chance, even returning to win his first race – from pole position, no less – the week after his Formula 1 debut.

But F1 didn’t immediately reward the young Spaniard, with his steep learning curve resulting in a best finish of 14th in Brazil. But the 19-year-old had done enough to be retained for 2010 and he showed marked progress in his first full-time season.

Scoring ninth place in Malaysia was followed by 10th at his home race in Spain and he was kept on again for 2011.

He went better again in 2011, scoring multiple points finishes across consecutive races in Canada, Valencia, and Silverstone, and finished seventh at the Italian and Korean Grands Prix.

But, despite all this and him outscoring Buemi, Red Bull opted to promote Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne for 2012 and Alguersuari dropped out of F1. – this was one of the harsher decisions made by Red Bull during its F1 history.

“It was a very quick phone call lasting just one minute. It was a very tough thing, and I didn’t understand why. I still don’t understand why even today,” Alguersuari told the Daily Star in 2023.

He briefly switched to Formula E but would later miss races due to a health scare. Shortly after, he announced his retirement in order to concentrate on his second career as a DJ and music producer – he is now known as the electronic act Squire.

Jean-Eric Vergne

Like his Formula E contemporary Sebastien Buemi, Vergne is a great example of a driver who fared much better away from the pressures of F1 and Red Bull, having been part of the junior programme and making it into Formula 1.

Securing Red Bull backing in 2007, he won the British Formula 3 championship in 2010, and finished as runner-up in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2011. This earned him a step-up into F1 for 2012, driving for Toro Rosso.

Paired with Daniel Ricciardo, Vergne came out on top against Ricciardo as the pair mostly fought in the lower midfield, scoring 16 points with a best finish in Brazil of eighth place.

Both continued on into 2013, knowing that the possibility of a promotion to Red Bull’s senior team was on the cards as Mark Webber’s career was winding down.

Ricciardo started to show the form which would secure him the seat alongside Sebastian Vettel the following year, and scored 20 points to Vergne’s 13. Vergne’s best finish – of the season and his career – was sixth in Canada.

Taking the blow of being passed over for the Red Bull seat as Ricciardo had shown greater consistency, Vergne stayed with Toro Rosso alongside the rookie Daniil Kvyat for the rules reset of the hybrid engines being introduced.

But while Vergne had a quietly solid season with a best result of sixth in Singapore, quietly solid was not what Red Bull were after – and he was dropped in favour of Max Verstappen for 2015.

Unable to secure another F1 seat, Vergne moved into Formula E and quickly found his new home. He won the title twice, for the 2017/’18 championship and the 2018/’19 defence, He continues to race in Formula E with Penske, and has also joined Peugeot’s Hypercar programme in the World Endurance Championship.

Carlos Sainz

Son of World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz, motorsport was always a likely journey for the young Spaniard, who turned towards circuit racing as his chosen discipline.

Signed by Red Bull in 2010 at the age of 16 after faring well in karting and junior formulae, Sainz thrived with victories in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2014 to become champion and he secured a step up to Formula 1 with Toro Rosso alongside Max Verstappen.

With both now proven top talents in F1 as Verstappen has won multiple titles with Red Bull, Sainz was somewhat overshadowed by the Dutch driver during their time together – Verstappen being more willing to pull off audacious overtakes, while Sainz showed a calmer and more mature style at this point.

Verstappen scored 49 points, with Sainz managing 18 points, and, with Red Bull fearing losing Verstappen to a rival team, promoted the Dutchman into their main team early in 2016 – moving Daniil Kvyat down to race alongside Sainz for the remainder of the season.

Sainz showed strong improvement that year, with sixth place at his home race in Barcelona his high point as he secured 46 points en route to 12th overall.

But, with no way upward as Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo stayed on at Red Bull, Sainz was getting itchy feet as he continued to lead the way against Kvyat.

In mid-2017, Renault was on the lookout for a replacement for the underwhelming Jolyon Palmer, and negotiated a loan deal with Red Bull to take the Spaniard for the remainder of 2017. Shortly after, Sainz left the Red Bull programme and has forged his own path ever since – moving to McLaren after 2018 and then onto Ferrari for 2021.

Sainz’s name was briefly linked with a possible return to Red Bull as a teammate to Verstappen for 2025 as Sergio Perez’s seat was unconfirmed, but previous tensions between the two driver’s respective fathers during their Toro Rosso overlap is believed to have played a part in Red Bull opting against such a dynamic again.

More of PlanetF1.com’s rankings

???? Ranked: Max Verstappen’s top 10 F1 Grand Prix victories

???? Ranked: The last 11 F1 drivers to be sacked in-season – including Logan Sargeant

Brendon Hartley

Hartley is unusual on the list as he is the only driver to have been signed back to the Red Bull programme after being dropped!

Signed to Red Bull’s junior programme in 2006, he became one of the company’s top prospects towards the end of the 2000s as he became a test and reserve driver for Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso in 2009 and 2010.

But, in 2010, Red Bull dropped Hartley from its programme after being largely anonymous across several racing categories. This forced Hartley to start carving out his own path, as he moved into sportscars and endurance racing.

It was in endurance racing that Hartley thrived. Signing for Porsche in the World Endurance Championship, he became a key part of the LMP1 team and won the title in 2015 and again in 2017 – including winning the Le Mans 24 Hours.

With Red Bull seeking alternatives to Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat towards the end of 2017, they called upon their former junior driver and Hartley finally got his chance in F1 – making his debut at the 2017 United States Grand Prix.

Adapting well to F1 after a sudden switch from endurance racing, his experience handling fuel management and energy recovery impressed Red Bull and he was signed full-time alongside Gasly for 2018.

But, with the car proving largely uncompetitive, Hartley struggled alongside Gasly. Finishing 10th in Baku for his maiden point, he also finished ninth in the US – but it was too little too late, and Red Bull chose Alex Albon to replace him at Toro Rosso for 2019.

After leaving Formula 1, Hartley returned to endurance racing with Toyota and won at Le Mans again in 2020. He also became a simulator development driver for Ferrari in F1.

Yuki Tsunoda

Perhaps the driver on this list who is most deserving of a chance at the main Red Bull team after being the main performer at the sister squad for so long, the young Japanese driver has come a long way since his tough debut year.

A product of the Honda Formula Dream project, Tsunoda was signed to the Red Bull junior team in 2019. Finishing ninth overall in Formula 3 that season, he moved to Formula 2 in 2020 and finished third overall after a great year with Carlin – winning three races and securing seven podiums.

This was enough to get him into F1 in 2021, with Honda’s backing more than helpful in that regard, as he was given the nod for AlphaTauri.

Tsunoda quickly developed a reputation for being fast but inconsistent, as well as having a wicked temper that he has largely brought under control – he regularly acknowledges it as a weakness, but there are still occasional flashes of that temper while on the track.

While Pierre Gasly was the defacto team leader during Tsunoda’s first two seasons, he became the more experienced driver within the team when he was paired with Nyck de Vries in 2023 and, showing marked improvement in racecraft and consistency, quickly ended De Vries’ career.

With Red Bull then promoting the veteran Daniel Ricciardo back into a race seat alongside Tsunoda, the Japanese driver continued to usually enjoy the upper hand – a situation that remained unchanged by the time Red Bull swapped Ricciardo for Liam Lawson towards the end of 2024.

While still an integral part of the VCARB squad for 2025, Tsunoda doesn’t appear to have ever been a serious contender to step up to the main Red Bull team and, with Honda’s partnership with Red Bull ending after 2025, it appears the door may shut on him as the likes of Isack Hadjar come up behind him in Formula 2.

Nyck de Vries

Like Sebastien Bourdais 15 years previously, De Vries was hired by Red Bull and held to a slightly higher standard than other rookie F1 drivers. The 2019 Formula 2 Champion became a veteran of the Formula E circuit and won the title as a Mercedes factory driver in 2021.

Alongside his title defence in 2022, De Vries became a test and reserve driver for three Mercedes-powered teams in F1 and made FP1 appearances with Williams, Mercedes, and Aston Martin.

His break came at Monza when, after driving for Aston Martin in FP1, De Vries was parachuted in to replace Alex Albon at Williams as the British-Thai racer required his appendix removed. De Vries drove a steady race to ninth to secure points for the team.

This was enough to convince Red Bull to take a gamble on him to replace Pierre Gasly at AlphaTauri, and De Vries slotted in alongside Yuki Tsunoda for what would prove to be a short and tough stint.

Tsunoda pretty much always had the upper hand on De Vries, with the Dutch driver struggling for pace and consistency. By Silverstone, Red Bull had seen enough and, with Daniel Ricciardo waiting in the wings after a strong test with the RB19 at Silverstone, opted to make the change – marking an ignominious end to De Vries’ short F1 career.

He now races with Toyota in the World Endurance Championship and has returned to Formula E with Mahindra.

Liam Lawson

The Kiwi driver, despite only having a handful of races to his name, will have raced for the Red Bull sister team under two guises when he makes his debut at the 2024 United States Grand Prix.

Lawson has been part of the Red Bull driver programme since early 2019, and recently revealed his motorsport career was almost at an end when he got the call to enquire about his interest in the programme, due to a lack of funding.

Fifth in Formula 3 in 2020 was followed by second in the DTM series in 2021 as well as ninth in his first season in Formula 2. In 2022, Lawson improved to finish third overall with four wins – dovetailing this alongside a test and reserve role with the two Red Bull F1 teams.

In 2023, Lawson was narrowly pipped to the Super Formula title but was given his first chance in F1 as he was given the nod to replace the injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri for five races while the Australian recovered.

Lawson proved more than capable of standing in for the veteran, keeping his nose clean overall to secure some solid results – including an impressive ninth place in a gruelling Singapore Grand Prix.

Despite this, Lawson had to keep patient as Red Bull continued with Daniel Ricciardo for 2024 but, after Singapore, confirmed the Kiwi would replace the Australian for the remainder of the season.

Lawson will thus have six races over the remainder of the 2024 season with which to impress Red Bull and see if he can secure a full-time seat for 2025. For now, it remains to be seen where Lawson might end up next year – will he remain on this list for very long?