“They’ve ruined a few drivers,” says McLaren CEO Zak Brown on Red Bull’s junior programme 

“They’ve ruined a few drivers,” says McLaren CEO Zak Brown on Red Bull’s junior programme 

Zak Brown

Red Bull have broken Mercedes’s domination over the last 8 years after Max Verstappen won the 2021 Formula One driver’s Championship. Max became the first non-Mercedes driver to win the title since the Turbo-Hybrid Era began in 2014.

Max is also the second Red Bull driver to win a championship with the team following Sebastian Vettel’s quadruple between 2010 and 2013. Both drivers were graduates of the Red Bull Junior Driver Programme which is well known to select the finest prospects and turn them into quality drivers.

Zak Brown
Lando Norris, Zak Brown and Daniel Ricciardo

Young drivers who show potential by winning karting or other racing competitions are snatched by Red Bull for further development. The Junior programme focuses on this development by allowing them to compete in F3, F2 and ultimately promoting them to the Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri seat. If the said driver can push the limits of the car and is capable to compete in F1 like Vettel or Max then they are promoted to the coveted Red Bull seat.

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Only very few drivers make it through to Formula One with many getting kicked out in the early stages itself. And according to McLaren CEO Zak Brown, the highly competitive environment at Red Bull has left many young drivers without a seat and has spoilt their careers.

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Zak Brown: “They’re a bit brutal”

Red Bull Racing's Team Principal Christian Horner and Max Verstappen after the latter's maiden championship win
Red Bull Racing’s Team Principal Christian Horner and Max Verstappen after the latter’s maiden championship win

Speaking of McLaren’s Indycar driver Pato O’Ward, Zak Brown shared how the Mexican was not given a chance to prove when at Red Bull. Brown spoke with The Race where he criticised Red Bull’s successful but brutal model to churn out young drivers and potential champions.

“He definitely slipped through the cracks,” the McLaren boss said. “I think Red Bull, while he was there, they only gave him about three races (in junior categories). But if you look at Red Bull’s history other than Max, they have let a handful of great drivers slip through their hands. I think they’ve ruined a few that I think had it but weren’t given enough opportunity,” Brown continued.

Brown then gave an example of former McLaren driver Carlos Sainz and current driver Daniel Ricciardo who both were products of the same programme. “They’re a bit brutal. Carlos is a great example. Daniel had already proven how good he was but he chose to leave. Vettel left. Max is a great story and someone that they found. Albon, Gasly. Gasly looks like a hell of a driver. They move through a lot of drivers.”

Both Carlos and Daniel were Verstappen’s teammates at Toro Rosso and Red Bull respectively. But just like Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat were sidelined by the Austrian team after their performances were undermined by the rising young Dutchman.

Also Read: Max Verstappen reportedly handed a ‘bumper’ contract extension by Red Bull