F1 dreams dashed: the drivers dropped by Red Bull

After much speculation, it’s now been confirmed that Yuki Tsunoda will be promoted up to Red Bull’s top team alongside their four-time World Champion Max Verstappen. It’s a driver move that many are labelling as overdue for Tsunoda, but also brutal for Liam Lawson who had just two race weekends behind the wheel of the RB21 machine.

Lawson and Tsunoda become the latest additions in a long line of mid-season driver swaps by the Red Bull entity in Formula 1, which has seen a string of underperforming members of the Red Bull driver programme dropped unceremoniously.

The ladder to a top Red Bull seat, via the Racing Bulls team (previously known as AlphaTauri and then Toro Rosso) is notoriously precarious, sending the careers of multiple drivers crashing to the ground.

Below, we look at some of the hopefuls who – for varying reasons – didn’t perform to the expectations of Christian Horner, the team principal, and Helmut Marko, the head of Red Bull’s driver development programme.

Scott Speed

Scott Speed was the first American to race in the sport since Michael Andretti in 1993, when himself and Vitantonio Liuzzi were named as Toro Rosso drivers for the team’s 2006 debut season.

A winner of the Red Bull Driver Search programme in 2003, Speed failed to live up to his potential – and name – as he was unable to score a point in 28 races in the sport, finishing with a best result of ninth place on two occasions.

By July 2007, he became the first victim of a Red Bull mid-season driver change and was given his marching orders in favour of the rising Sebastian Vettel, who went on to achieve the team’s then best result, with a fourth-place finish at China later that year.

In the years since his departure, Speed has achieved success in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, as well as achieving a podium in Miami during a four-race stint in Formula E in 2014-15. He also attempted to take part in the 2011 Indianapolis 500, but failed to qualify before he decided the sport was too dangerous to compete in following the death of his friend, Dan Wheldon, later in the season.

Sébastien Bourdais

After just 27 races, Bourdais’ time in F1 came to an end midway through the 2009 season, when he was replaced by youngster Jaime Alguersuari at Toro Rosso. The Frenchman started his career at the pinnacle of motorsport impressively, finishing seventh at the 2008 Australian Grand Prix, despite an engine problem forcing him to retire with just three laps to go when running fourth. Yet just one more points finish followed in the remainder of the season, as bad luck caused him to miss out on podiums in both Spa and Monza, the latter the scene of victory for team-mate Vettel – Toro Rosso’s first and only F1 victory.

Another two points finishes in 2009 weren’t enough though to keep his seat, as an already four-time Champ Car Series Champion Bourdais was dropped from his seat mid-season.

Yet his career since has been anything but as damning, as six wins, three poles and 13 podiums make him one of the best IndyCar drivers this past decade. His latest win at the 2018 St Petersburg Grand Prix showed the speed was still there for a driver who was arguably dropped before he was able to demonstrate his talent.

Sébastien Buemi

Swiss driver Buemi was just 20 years old when he took over Sebastian Vettel’s vacant Toro Rosso seat in 2009. The young driver finished his first season in the sport as best rookie with six points, beating the likes of Adrian Sutil and Kazuki Nakajima’s Force India and Williams in far slower machinery.

He remained at the junior team for a further two seasons, but failed to impress Red Bull bosses despite generally having the measure of team-mates Bourdais and Alguersuari during his time in the sport, as well as leading the Canadian GP in 2010. However, he and his Spanish counterpart Alguersuari were replaced by Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne ahead of the 2012 campaign. Buemi stuck around and was the team’s test and reserve driver for several years. 

Joining Formula E for its inaugural race in 2014, Buemi still ranks as one of the most successful drivers in the all-electric championship. With a drivers’ title under his belt, as well as 13 wins, 32 podiums and 16 poles, he also balances his commitments with the World Endurance Championship. He is a four-time champion and Le Mans winner with Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Jaime Alguersuari

The driver from Barcelona was less than two weeks into his new role as Red Bull and Toro Rosso reserve driver, when he was announced as Sebastian Bourdais’ replacement at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari became, at the time, the youngest driver ever to compete in Formula 1 at 19 years and 125 days old, breaking a near 30-year record set by Mike Thackwell in 1980.

His two-and-a-half years in the sport yielded just 31 points, as he often struggled for pace in qualifying, and this led to him achieving a best finish of seventh place, which he did at the 2011 Italian Grand Prix.

After finishing his time at the Italian outfit at the end the year, Alguersuari eventually ended up at Formula E for the 2014-15 season, achieving a best finish of fourth at the 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix as he ended up 13th in the series’ inaugural championship. Yet by October 2015, Alguersuari retired from all forms of motor racing in order to focus on his DJ career. In 2022, he said that he had been to therapy to deal with the “trauma” of his F1 experience, and still woke up crying with nightmares from that time.

Jean-Eric Vergne

The decision to promote Daniil Kvyat to Red Bull in 2014 seems more significant now: if the more-experienced Vergne had been chosen over his Russian Toro Rosso team-mate, then a series of driver changes at the team may never have taken place.

A number of points finishes during his three-year tenure at the team, including a career-best sixth-place in Canada 2013, wasn’t enough for either Red Bull to promote him in the two opportunities they had to do so, or keep him for 2015 either. Seeing Daniel Ricciardo and Kvyat chosen ahead of him, effectively ended the F1 career of the Frenchman, who hasn’t returned to the sport since his departure at the end of 2014.

His decision to join Formula E, weeks after his final Grand Prix, has put Vergne back into the spotlight once again, though. He has gone on to win two championships in 2017-18 and 2018-19, as well as achieving 11 wins, 36 podiums and 17 pole positions – the most poles in the championship’s history.

Daniil Kvyat

Hired by Toro Rosso, hired by Red Bull, dropped by Red Bull, dropped by Toro Rosso, hired by Toro Rosso and then dropped by Alpha Tauri. Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull journey was arguably the most tumultuous of them all.

During his 110 race starts, Kvyat experienced three podiums and picked up 202 points across the two teams. Despite being thrust into the junior Red Bull seat three times, Kvyat was finally shown the door by the Red Bull programme to make way for Yuki Tsunoda in 2021.

Brendon Hartley

After first joining the Red Bull junior programme in 2008, Hartley had quite the wait for an opportunity in the Red Bull family. Nine years, in fact. His various testing roles up until 2010 failed to secure him a race seat, as he was overlooked in favour of drivers including Carlos Sainz.

But the decision of Toro Rosso to drop Kvyat for the remainder of 2017 after the US Grand Prix ensured Hartley was another to benefit from a Red Bull mid-season driver change. In fact, he was given the full 2018 season to finally showcase his talents. However, the Kiwi was ultimately outpaced in both qualifying and the races by Pierre Gasly, leaving him with just four points compared to his team-mate’s 29.

Hartley would find success in sports cars and is now a four-time WEC champion, having won the title in 2015, 2017, 2020 and 2023.

Pierre Gasly

Gasly can count himself lucky as one of the few drivers to face the Red Bull axe and still have a Formula 1 drive. After replacing Kvyat part way through 2017, the French driver set the grid alight in 2018 with a fourth-place finish in Bahrain for Toro Rosso.

This early promise led to Gasly being drafted in to replace the departing Daniel Ricciardo and in 2019 the young Frenchman became a Red Bull driver. However, this dream would turn into a nightmare for Gasly as he would see himself demoted back to Toro Rosso during the summer break. 

Marko was characteristically quick to the chop, and Gasly remained at the rebranded AlphaTauri team for three further years, fighting back to an emotional win in Monza in 2020 before joining Alpine for 2023.

Alex Albon

Albon felt the ruthlessness of Red Bull even before he had got to Formula 1. Having risen through the junior formulas as a Red Bull junior, he was dropped from the program early in his career and would agree a deal to race in Formula E with DAMS.

However, the musical chairs of F1’s silly season had left an open space at Toro Rosso for 2019, so Albon negotiated his way out of Formula E and into F1. Albon’s trajectory would continue upwards as he would be thrust into the Red Bull seat that same year after the Hungarian Grand Prix to replace Gasly.

A poor 2020 soon saw Albon under as much threat as his predecessor and by the end of the year he was replaced by Sergio Perez. After a year out, racing for Red Bull in DTM, Albon found his comfort zone in the Williams team and is now impressing once again.

Nyck de Vries

Dutchman de Vries left a big impression when he scored points on his F1 debut, covering for Albon who was suffering with appendicitis over the 2022 Italian Grand Prix weekend. Soon the former Formula E World Champion was snapped up by AlphaTauri on full-time contract for the following season. 

Despite his ninth place finish in Monza, he wasn’t able to translate this into top 10 results at AlphaTauri across the first half of 2023. A best result of 12th at the Monaco Grand Prix left much to be desired as team-mate Tsunoda picked up points across Melbourne and Baku, and saw the termination of his seat two races before the summer shutdown. 

After his brief stint in F1, de Vries returned back to Formula E with Mahindra Racing and has found success in the WEC Hypercar class with Toyota – finishing third last year with Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Daniel Ricciardo

Having joined Toro Rosso in 2012, Ricciardo got the promotion to Red Bull’s top team two years later and instantly found himself at home. He secured his maiden victory at the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix for the team and would finish third in the drivers’ championship that season. However, after more silverware and another six wins over the five years, Ricciardo made the surprising jump to Renault which left many to question if he was running from a fight with team-mate Verstappen.

Time with Renault, and later McLaren, delivered a mixed bag of results. Ricciardo helped end a 170-race win drought for McLaren at Monza in 2021, but a “mutual agreement” between him and the current constructors’ champions meant he departed his contract a year early to make way for Oscar Piastri after a string of disappointing results. 

Red Bull brought him back under its wing, making him a third driver before he replaced Nyck de Vries mid-way through the 2023 season at AlphaTauri. A broken hand sustained from a crash during Zandvoort Free Practice saw him ruled out of racing until the United States Grand Prix of the same year, with Liam Lawson brought in to replace him. 

Ricciardo returned to the newly-rebranded RB team for 2024, but also found himself on the chopping block and was axed after last year’s Singapore Grand Prix. Although his name is being linked with Cadillac, which joins the grid next year, it could well be that we’ve seen the Honey Badger’s last race.  

Sergio Perez

Despite having one of the longest careers in F1 – with 285 entries placing him eighth on the all-time list – experience wasn’t enough to save Sergio Perez from falling victim to Red Bull’s decision making process. Joining the Milton Keynes-based squad in 2021, his four years with the team resulted in five victories, 29 podiums and three pole positions as he competed alongside team-mate Verstappen. 

Although things started well last year with four top-three results in the first five races, Perez’s performance took a significant nosedive and he failed to find himself on the podium come race day again. 

With rumours starting to swirl that he would be dropped during the summer break, Perez managed to cling on but was ultimately dropped by Red Bull at the end of the season in favour of Liam Lawson for 2025, despite having a contract for another year.

Liam Lawson

The latest addition to this list is now Liam Lawson. The 23-year-old lasted just two race weekends in his seat before the top dogs at Red Bull demoted him back to RB – now known as Racing Bulls. Qualifying 18th and 20th in Australia and China, respectively, Lawson’s debut with the team didn’t start well, failing to score any points across the first two Grand Prix and the Chinese Sprint race. 

Yuki Tsunoda, Lawson’s team-mate during his two short stints at Racing Bulls over the last two seasons, will be given his seat ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix – a home race for Tsunoda. It looks set to be one of the shortest-lived contracts in recent F1 memory, and is a very real reminder of the expectations from Red Bull at its top team.