Jaime Alguersuari’s F1 career began and ended with Red Bull, who have made a habit of hiring and firing drivers over the years, with Sergio Perez being the latest victim
Jaime Alguersuari’s F1 career began and ended with Red Bull, who have made a habit of hiring and firing drivers over the years, with Sergio Perez being the latest victim Jaime Alguersuari’s F1 career began and ended with Red Bull, who have made a habit of hiring and firing drivers over the years, with Sergio Perez being the latest victim
A Red Bull driver sacked in a brutally-short phone call still doesn’t understand why he was dropped.
While Sergio Perez, who endured a wretched 2024 season, has become the latest driver to be culled by Red Bull, he was far from the first to suffer such a fate, and he probably won’t be the last. While Perez could have had a few complaints, many others over the years have arguably been harshly treated, such as Jaime Alguersuari.
The Spanish racer, now a DJ and music producer, once held the crown of F1’s youngest driver. He made his debut for Toro Rosso – the name of Red Bull’s junior team at the time – at the age of just 19 years and 125 days in 2009. That particular record now belongs to Max Verstappen, who made his debut for the same team at the age of just 17 in 2015.
Alguersuari spent three seasons in F1 from 2009 to 2011, scoring 31 points across 46 races. In his final season, he often exceeded expectations, earning 25 of the team’s 41 points.
Those displays led him to believe he would be promoted to the main team. As a result, he turned down a move to the Lotus team, who were a race-winning outfit in 2012 with Kimi Raikkonen.
However, Mark Webber’s decision to stay in F1 for one more season left Alguersuari with nowhere to go. He told the Daily Star in 2023: “The [2011] season went really well, but I didn’t sign the contract because it seemed obvious that, having been with Red Bull for six years – for me, it was obvious, anyway – that doing what we were doing, beating my team-mate and getting the car into the top eight consistently, it was good enough to secure my place at Red Bull seat in 2012, because we thought Mark Webber was leaving.”
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While Alguersuari, now 34, remains grateful to Red Bull for the opportunities they gave him on the way up to F1, he remains unhappy and confused by the manner of his exit. He added: “Without Red Bull, I would never have had the chance to be in F1.
“But what is also crystal clear is the way they sacked me was not the way they should have done it. They waited until the very last minute of the season to do that. That hurt a lot because it was the end of my career. I had talks with other teams, but they were asking for money, which we didn’t have.
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“If you’re putting a car that isn’t supposed to be in the points in the points, and you’re consistently beating your team-mate and beating world champions [like Michael Schumacher, who was driving for Mercedes], it’s crystal clear that you deserve that chance.”
On the short and sharp call that sealed his fate, he recalled: “It was a very quick phone call lasting just one minute. It was a very tough thing, and I didn’t understand why. I still don’t understand why, even today.
“I understand how F1 works, but I don’t really want to buy how they decided this because it was not a sporting decision. They played their cards, and I wasn’t smart enough to move out at the right time.”
Mirror – Sport