Franz Tost names three drivers sacked by Red Bull that could’ve made it big in F1

Franz Tost revealed three ex-F1 drivers who could've achieved more success at the pinnacle of motorsport.

Franz Tost names three drivers sacked by Red Bull that could’ve made it big in F1

Franz Tost (Via IMAGO)

Red Bull is infamous for having a strict policy with its drivers. The Austrian giant has two teams on the F1 grid with Scuderia AlphaTauri being the testing ground for young talent. However, over the years many drivers have been ousted from the Faenza-based team including Nyck de Vries this season. Now AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost has mentioned three drivers who could’ve made it big at the pinnacle of motorsport.

Tost led the Red Bull sister team since its first 2006 after acquiring Minardi. Although, the 67-year-old has now retired from the sport. Franz Tost claimed that Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat were two drivers who had the pace to achieve success in Formula 1. Moreover, the former team boss highlighted Vergne’s two Formula E titles as a testament to the Frenchman’s talent.

Jean-Eric Vergne, I think he could have made a successful career in Formula 1, as well as Daniil Kvyat, both of them are really very, very fast. And Jean-Eric Vergne showed this also in Formula E, I think he won twice the World Championship.
Franz Tost said as reported by RacingNews365

Additionally, the 67-year-old named Sebastian Buemi as another driver with lost F1 potential. The Swiss driver achieved immense success with Toyota in WEC as well as a Formula E title in season 2. Buemi has remained part of the Red Bull family since. The Formula E champion has served as a reserve driver for Milton Keynes for multiple seasons.

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Sebastian Buemi sometimes showed good performance. He also won the 24 hours of Le Mans, so they were drivers in our team, they really had high skills.

Franz Tost reveals why Red Bull ousted several drivers

Tost admitted that Red Bull has had limited seats for its junior drivers in F1. The Austrian team has been forced to let go of drivers such as Buemi and Vergne due to the restricted seats on the grid. Milton Keynes has been known to be ruthless when it comes to managing its drivers at the pinnacle of motorsport.

They were then sorted out because another driver was coming and we simply don't have so many places, neither at Red Bull Racing nor at Scuderia Toro Rosso, Scuderia AlphaTauri.
Christian Horner, Helmut Marko and Franz Tost
Christian Horner, Helmut Marko and Franz Tost (Via IMAGO)

This was the case with Nyck de Vries. The Dutch driver was called up to race for the Franz Tost-led AlphaTauri in 2023. However, a string of underwhelming results saw de Vries get ousted to make place for Daniel Ricciardo. On the other hand, Liam Lawson still awaits a full-time F1 seat due to the limited seats at the two Red Bull teams.

However, Franz Tost pointed out that all three aforementioned drivers achieved considerable success outside of the sport. Perhaps a testament to the quality of the Red Bull driver pool. Even today almost half of the grid has been affiliated with Milton Keynes at some point in their career.

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