Wednesday 10 April 2013

Red Bull has so many options for the future

What will they do?

Red bull are not exactly lacking in people wanting to take a seat, so if Mark Webber was to drop out for say losing trust in the team for not backing him up (That would be crazy, right?), then it's fair to say Red Bull would not have a problem in filling that space.

Existing drivers

Firstly there is Toro Rosso, the sister team of Red bull, which receives significant financial aid and is effectively a junior team, although this year the car developed by James Key, seems to be pushing ever closer to the parent car. Toro Rosso is basically Red Bull's young driver test, it's where Vettel drove and things seem to have panned out with him quite nicely; and although you could argue Toro  Rosso is used to bolt development parts onto to do some sneaky testing before it's put on the Horny Hereshell (Or whatever insane name Vettel has given his car this year), you can also argue that the italian team is breading some fine talent.

God damn it Ricciardo, stop smiling!
Scuderia Red Bull Jr. seem to circulate drivers, giving them a good chance at proving their worth so that they might fly into bigger Renault powered cars, they gave Alguersuari and Buemi three year chances, more than what other mid-field teams give their younger drivers, and the young spaniard obviously impressed as he's been Pirelli's test driver for two years now. Then they got two new drivers Ricciardo and Vergne, with the former having raced at HRT (Under Red Bull's expense) and the latter having his first season in F1. Obviously these two are fighting for a seat in the parent car and it should provide some interesting battles both on and off the track.

Then there are other drivers on the grid, we all know Paul Di-Resta is hungry for a better car (But he may have that this year) and was overlooked by McLaren for being too British, which is a bit harsh for Scotland but whatever. There have been talks about Kimi and Red bull, Massa and Red Bull, Grosjean and Red bull and even Hamilton and the Austrian team; but these all seem a bit iffy.

New drivers

I don't think Red Bull would hire from any other teams, they invest a lot of dosh into new driver programs and into Torro Rosso, so it would be insane to get a driver who hasn't come up in this rather expensive route.
What's over there? A Red Bull seat?
Just today Red Bull has signed a new driver to their junior team, Beitske Visser, where just five other drivers stand and two of which are Red Bul and Toro Rosso's reserve drivers, impressive.

The thing that got me though is the media coverage, they keep going on about how she is a woman, and this is shocking. Recently there has been a big push on women in motor sports, we're starting to see our first ever woman team principles and more women are getting involved in the sport, but to be honest who really cares what gender you are? If you can race Red Bull will have you, hell if you can race any team will have you; the question isn't 'Why aren't women any good at motor sports?' it's 'Why are they encouraged not to be good at motor sports?' but that is a question for another time. 

Red Bull seem to sponsor every sport under the sun, and they've run out of things to sponsor so they just started to make their own (Red Bull Air Race anyone), so the raging Bulls would have no problem in filling a vacant seat if they ever need to, especially filling it with someone who can instantly contend for race wins. What they've done is smart, not only have they financially ensured their future in F1, they have ensured that they keep getting good, world class, championship winning drivers in their cars so that they can continue to be one of the top teams.

Side note, I do also have a small hope that Visser and Vettel never race in the same team, the similarities their surnames have is far too confusing.

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