"Red Bull are looking for the next world champion," says Marc Priestley; Brian Redman feels Kvyat was promoted too quickly to the senior team.
Monday 18 November 2019 15:17, UK
Promoting Max Verstappen to Red Bull as a replacement for Daniil Kvyat was the right decision, according to the F1 Report guests.
The former world champions unexpectedly dropped Kvyat to the backdrop of two high-profile collisions with Sebastian Vettel in the opening three corners of the Russian GP.
Former McLaren number one mechanic Marc Priestley admits Red Bull's development programme can be "brutal" but feels it is the right decision for the team.
"Kvyat is a good driver, he has got talent and he has not suddenly run out of talent. But we know that Red Bull driver programme is looking for the next Sebastian Vettel, it is looking for the next world champion and if they don't see that in Daniil Kvyat they will very quickly move onto the next one," he told the F1 Report.
"It is a brutal programme, but the reality is that if you are Red Bull you are spending an awful lot of money on getting somebody like Sebastian Vettel to become a multiple world champion and when that happens is Red Bull reap the rewards of it commercially.
"Part of me thinks it is the right approach. We are looking for the very best drivers in F1, so if you have a programme that gives young kids a chance, they put a lot of money into them right from an early age, you follow that through to the point where if you don't think they are going to make the final step you cut your losses as a business."
Kvyat was thrust into the senior Red Bull team after just one season in F1 following Vettel's sudden defection to Ferrari. Former F1 driver Brian Redman thinks the Russian needed more time to develop before his promotion.
"I'm not sure that he was ready," Redman said. "It is a tremendous amount of pressure and he is still very young, it is an extremely difficult situation to be in."
Priestley concurred, adding: "It is one of the problems with the Red Bull system, they have this pool of drivers and when one leaves they are not just going to pull someone in from the outside.
"They aren't always ready, they don't always have someone who is ready to move up, but they don't really have a lot of choice.
"I think he's done a really good job in that Red Bull team and it is a real blow to him, but I think if we are looking for the next superstar, the next multiple world champion they have to be quite brutal in the decisions they make."
