Why two Red Bull rejects are finally feeling at home
Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat's stays of execution with the newly rebranded AlphaTauri team is at odds with the renowned ruthlessness of Red Bull guru Helmut Marko. Now the chance to extend their F1 careers beyond 2020 lies in their hands
The ruthless reality of Red Bull's junior programme isn't exactly new. But some of its members getting second chances is a relatively recent change.
In 2017, Brendon Hartley was brought back after a Le Mans-winning spell as part of Porsche's LMP1 sportscar team. At the end of the following year, Alexander Albon was plucked from a plum Formula E deal with Nissan e.dams to rejoin the Red Bull fold, and Daniil Kvyat, who had barely just been jettisoned when Hartley and Pierre Gasly were being brought through, returned to Toro Rosso.
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Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.
A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.
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