What does everyone think? Do you think it was the right thing to do?
Posting this just after qualifying, I definitely think Verstappen is faster than Kvyat. I defenitely think he is the better talent than Kvyat, at several years younger than him.
But why did they rid him of Red Bull? We all knew it was coming, among the fact Verstappen wanted to take Kimi's vacant spot for when he leaves Ferrari to go to a midfielder or the golf course. But mid season? Stupid.
I suppose Helmut just wants to keep hold of this 'next Vettel' Dutchman. But after the fact Arrivabene revealed that Kimi should be staying as long as he holds a candle, where else would he go? The only other team around there is Mercedes, and that just isn't happening, and Williams has literally no links whatsoever. I was thinking he'd replace Kvyat for 2017 and Kvyat would go off to a team like Renault.
After this Kvyat will probably have his career completely ruined. When we saw that 20-year-old, or even 19-year-old I can't remember lol, take 9th in Australia, we thought HE'D be the next Sebastian the Red Bull YDA is hunting for so intensively. He then got promoted instead of JEV to Red Bull after Seb left, right decision? Jean-Eric was generally slower in qualifying but was faster in races, and impressed me slightly more than his TM that season, but it wasn't a complete write-off to sign who would have been at worst second on my list. JEV gets taken out of TR entirely but that didn't actually surprise me in the slightest because he is FAR TOO OLD for Marko, at 26.
He then had a season where he challenged his supposedly amazing Australian counterpart, and in the end outscored him, mostly down to luck.
From the start of 2016 Ricciardo was faster, but Danil did get a podium in China, the race before he was demoted, even if Ricciardo would have got it if it were not for his early puncture. Then one bad race, where he crashed into my favourite driver, and the guy Red Bull previously thought he could replicate, twice and finished behind Daniel and miles out of the points.
According to Vettel, and IMO, Red Bull made the decision before then and just wanted to get him in as early as possible whilst making sure they had a reason as to not hurt their publicity and their driver's feelings too much. That was a little bit of a failure as in the pre-practice press conference, you could tell he was practically holding off tears. In fact, I think they'd have given Verstappen the seat before Melbourne if they didn't think that Toro Rosso was going to be as fast as RBR from the start. So it'd must've been horrible for Kvyat to be with the Red Bull guys as he practically waited for his execution.
Now what for the Russian? If he stays at STR next season I'll be massively surprised as of how unhappy he must be. On top of this, I doubt Helmut Marko would like to hold Pierre Ghasly in place for too long so I think he'd dispose of him anyway. Then he'd leave the entirety of hte Red Bull unit and if another team doesn't snap him up, I think he'd be gone forever to go to Formula E or touring cars.
Alternatively, he might come back after a seasons break like Magnussen to go to a team which had lost a driver and had noone else lined up, such as Renault to be fair.
As for Verstappen, I can't see him jumping ship at least for a few seasons, and as the RBR stays in the top 6 cars at least which it really should. If they lose engines for 2016 and are no longer in the sport, I wouldn't be surprised if a big dog team landed him.
Sainz was unlucky that he happened to be teammates with Max for 23 races. I'm sure they had some great banter, but he was the unsung hero of last season and will now have to wait a long time probably until he goes to a top team. Or Marko wakes up on the wrong side of bed.
Ricciardo seems comfortable and was faster than Max for most of the sessions so far this weekend, but he was really on edge in Q1 and 2 and it definitely seems he could be a boxer on the ropes come Sunday with a fast-starting teen up his arse. (Just realised how some people could read that sentence lol)
To conclude, what Red Bull have done will help them but was definitely the morally wrong thing to do. Kvyat was absolutely served a new one by Sainz today and yesterday so he is definitely gone, which gives one other negative for Christian Horner and everyone at Red Bull; if someone leaves the team in future, they won't have as many people available to bring in.
What do you guys think? Let's just sit back until tomorrow and enjoy the fireworks!
