Top 5: Red Bull rejects who flourished
RED BULL JUNIOR RECOVERIES
Ahead of Brendon Hartley’s Formula 1 debut at the US Grand Prix, we pick out five former Red Bull juniors who rejuvenated their careers with high-profile racing achievements.
1 BRENDON HARTLEY
Hartley tops this list because his recovery from being dropped by
Red Bull in mid-2010 has delivered him to his Formula 1 debut… with Red
Bull’s junior team. The New Zealander doggedly pursued success in single-seaters before making his sportscar debut in 2012. Since then he’s become a works Porsche LMP1 star, the 2015 World Endurance champion (and is likely to recapture that crown this year) and won Le Mans in June.
2 SEBASTIEN BUEMI
Buemi surfed the Red Bull junior team waves all the way to Formula 1 and raced for Toro Rosso for three seasons. He was dropped ahead of 2012, but immediately found a berth in Toyota’s LMP1 ranks and remained on Red Bull’s reserve books. Although a Le Mans win has eluded him, he won the ’14 WEC title and has scored 12 Formula E race victories, winning the 2015-16 crown.
3 NEEL JANI
Jani was a Red Bull junior between 2005 and ’07, racing with the energy-drink giant’s colours in GP2 and Champ Car (and carrying its logo on his helmet during his title-winning A1GP season). He was a Toro Rosso Friday practice driver in ’06 after previously testing for Red Bull. Has since gone on to win Le Mans with Porsche in 2016, and also became WEC LMP1 champion that year.
4 KARUN CHANDHOK
Chandhok was a Red Bull junior during the 2008 season when he raced in GP2, scoring one win and finishing 10th in the standings. He went on to make his F1 debut with the HRT squad in 2010 – competing in 10 races – and then made a further race appearance for the Lotus team the following year. Now takes part in regular sportscar events and is a popular TV pundit for Channel 4 in the UK.
5 NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN
Another driver who went on to race in F1 after being dropped by Red Bull. Finished sixth in World Series by Nissan during the 2004 season when he was part of Red Bull’s junior line-up, scoring two wins, and tested an F1 car for Minardi. The following year he raced for Jordan in F1 and finished fourth in the farcical US Grand Prix. Returned to drive for HRT in ’11 and ’12 and is now a Super Formula regular.