Is Red Bull right to promote Verstappen?

Max Verstappen steps up to Red Bull's top Formula 1 team with little more than a season at Toro Rosso under his belt, with Daniil Kvyat heading back to Toro Rosso.

But is Red Bull's latest ruthless move within its driver roster a good one? Did Kvyat need to be pushed aside, or is it too soon for Verstappen, who only stepped up from karts in 2014?

Autosport's team of F1 journalists tackles those subjects and more with their views on the Red Bull driver switch.

SWITCH IS A WIN-WIN FOR RED BULL
Ben Anderson, Grand Prix Editor (@BenAndersonAuto)

I get the distinct impression Max Verstappen's promotion to Red Bull was only a matter of time; it's just that the time has come rather sooner than anyone expected.

Red Bull went to unusual lengths to sign Verstappen in the first place. He got a fixed three-year deal and promotion straight from Formula 3 to F1, rather than having to slog it out on the rest of the junior single-seater ladder.

Mercedes wanted Verstappen too, and Red Bull went the extra mile to get its man. This has arguably given Verstappen more power as a Red Bull driver than is usually the norm.

The Verstappen camp wanted two seasons for Max to hone his craft at STR before using the final year of his deal to gun for glory at RBR.

The fact that Verstappen has shone so far, bagging strong results and showing exceptional racecraft, has only bolstered the impression that his eventual promotion to Red Bull was almost inevitable.

Meanwhile - China podium aside - Daniil Kvyat has endured a difficult start to the season. His qualifying form has been poor, and not easily explained away as a result of technical problems.

His first year at Red Bull also wasn't the smoothest, certainly early on, so you'd have to say if Red Bull was always minded to give Verstappen a shot, it was most likely that Kvyat would make way.

Ultimately you'd have to say it's an unusual step to switch drivers after just four races, but the move potentially accomplishes several important things for Red Bull.

Firstly it gives Red Bull the chance to assess the potential of its most exciting prospect against its most established star, Daniel Ricciardo.

If Verstappen performs, then Red Bull knows it made the right call. If Ricciardo gets the best of Verstappen easily, then perhaps Red Bull won't be so bothered if rival teams come calling.

At the same time it removes an element of serious tension from within Toro Rosso, which we saw blow up briefly in Australia as Verstappen became too focused on outwitting team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr.

Sending Kvyat back there avoids freezing out a driver Helmut Marko rates highly, gives Sainz an established benchmark, and also gives Red Bull's 'junior team' a proven talent (there are no candidates below ready to make the step up yet) to help it score points in what looks to be an extremely close midfield constructors' title battle with Force India, McLaren and Haas.

For the Red Bull group this is probably a win-win; for Kvyat this is certainly not the right move, but all he can do is make the best of it and wait to see if Verstappen proves to be the real deal, or a flash in the pan.

HARSH DECISION IS THE RIGHT ONE
Lawrence Barretto, F1 Reporter (@lawrobarretto)

It might seem harsh, but Red Bull has made the right call. Daniil Kvyat had a difficult start to his first year at Red Bull last term, but the team had faith and his results improved.

This year, the expectation was higher but the Russian again struggled out of the box, qualifying 18th and 15th respectively in the first two races.

Sure he scored a podium in China, but his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished just six seconds behind him, despite picking up a puncture when leading and dropping to 18th before recovering to fourth.

So when Kvyat hit Sebastian Vettel not once but twice in Russia, it's not a huge surprise Red Bull took drastic action. It does, after all, have a reputation for it.

Red Bull must look to the future as it attempts to return to championship-contending form, and the recent turn of events gave it reason to fast-forward its plans.

With Max Verstappen on a three-year deal, which expires at the end of 2017, moving him into the senior outfit gives Red Bull a chance to evaluate him against Ricciardo.

The step up is earlier than the Verstappen camp had anticipated, as it's understood the hope was to finish off this season at Toro Rosso and refine his skills before pushing for promotion.

But it was too good an opportunity to miss and if he performs well against Ricciardo, a long stay at Milton Keynes could be on the cards.

Red Bull has also kept its options open by placing Kvyat at Toro Rosso, rather than canning him completely and giving someone from its young driver programme a shot.

It can evaluate Kvyat's form against Carlos Sainz Jr, who retains the backing of his bosses, while giving the Russian one more chance to prove his talent.

But Kvyat faces a tough fight to regain Red Bull's belief in him, especially in a car that's likely to struggle as the season goes on because of its 2015-spec Ferrari engine.

Red Bull still has three drivers - Verstappen, Kvyat and Sainz Jr - fighting over one seat at the senior team. So I'd say it's in a pretty good position.

THE WARNING SIGNS WERE THERE
Ian Parkes, Chief F1 Correspondent (@IanParkesF1)

It's a brutal move, which has come as a surprise but is not totally unexpected.

Following last year's Spanish Grand Prix, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko issued a warning to Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat after what he saw as a below-par performance in Barcelona, compounding an already troubled start to the year on the engine front.

"Our established guys need to look out," he said, and then with reference to Toro Rosso's young pairing Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr, added: "Paradoxically, the more inexperienced ones did the better job."

It was a shot across the bows of both Ricciardo and Kvyat, with the latter going on to have marginally the better season, finishing three points and one place ahead of the Australian in the drivers' standings.

As former Toro Rosso drivers Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastien Buemi and Jean-Eric Vergne will testify, there is little room for sentiment or error where Marko is concerned.

Despite Kvyat's third place in the previous race in China, and regardless of Sebastian Vettel's anger at the 22-year-old's move up the inside at Turn 1 on the first lap, what followed on in Russia was seemingly unforgiveable in Marko's eyes.

To hit Vettel once was a mistake by Kvyat that could arguably be glossed over - although the domino effect also meant the four-time champion collided with Ricciardo and hampered his race - but to do so a second time was the straw that broke the camel's back.

It's understood Marko has been looking to fast-track Verstappen for some time, not least because there's the added factor that Mercedes and Ferrari have been sniffing around the 18-year-old.

It appears unlikely Mercedes will pursue the young Dutchman, for although Nico Rosberg is out of contract at the end of this season, it is hard to imagine him not being given a new deal at some point soon given the form he's shown so far this year.

Ferrari, however, is a different matter; Kimi Raikkonen's deal also runs out at the end of the year, and the Finn has hardly covered himself in glory so far this season, making key errors in qualifying that have cost him grid positions.

Moving Verstappen into a Red Bull hot-seat now keeps him happy and Ferrari at bay, particularly with the Milton Keynes-based team returning to form.

It also eases tensions that had been growing at Toro Rosso between Verstappen and Sainz Jr, in particular after what unfolded between them in Australia this year.

IT COULD BE TOO SOON (AGAIN)
Dieter Rencken, Special Contributor (@RacingLines)

Red Bull has against shown its ruthlessness. On the face of it, dumping Kvyat in favour of Verstappen after the former's first-lap contretemps on home soil is F1's equivalent of a death sentence for a traffic transgression.

That said, the Russian flipped and flopped about too much in his 15 months with Red Bull Racing, which exists to win - as opposed to Scuderia Toro Rosso, whose mission is driver development.

However, in his defence it must be said he came into F1 in 2014 off the back of a GP3 campaign which, yes, Dany won, but only after a scratchy start - and spent just a season at Toro Rosso before being unexpectedly elevated to the main team in the wake of Sebastian Vettel's surprise defection to Ferrari.

Herein lies the rub: Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost, arguably the best driver coach in the business, reckons it takes three years to school drivers, yet Kvyat was chucked to the piranhas after a season because Red Bull had no (cheap) alternatives to replace Vettel at such short notice.

With that in mind, the question is whether Max is also being promoted prematurely.

And has the Dutch camp played a role? Father Jos Verstappen and manager Raymond Vermeulen were schooled in the dark art of F1 politics by Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw, and they likely pre-empted the swap - using threats of Max signing pre-contracts elsewhere as leverage.

The bottom line is a seat at Red Bull's top table came a year too soon for Kvyat - and for that Red Bull's motorsport head-honcho Dr Helmut Marko carries the can - and now the same scenario could well apply to Verstappen.