9 replies to this topic

[st99]

It has been announced today that Alex Lynn (this year's Macau GP winner and 3rd in F3) has joined the Red Bull Junior Team. With the departure of Daniil Kvyat to Toro Rosso and Callan O'Keefe, Beitske Visser and Tom Blomqvist not being retained for another season, for now the RBJT would be formed by:

 

-Carlos Sainz Jr. who will race in WSbR 3.5 with DAMS.

-Pierre Gasly who will also race in WSbR 3.5 possibly with Arden Caterham.

-Alex Lynn who will race in GP3 with Carlin.

 

*Antonio Felix da Costa who will race in DTM with BMW and be RBR's third driver  (he's not part of the Junior team anymore but he keeps the backing from RB).

 

 

One of this will possibly have a chance to end up in Toro Rosso in 2015 as it's not common for RB to give their drivers a fourth season and Jean-Éric Vergne will probably leave unless he does a really good season.

Who do you think has more chances? In my opinion, Sainz Jr. is the one with more possibilities for having been in the junior team longer and RB and Dr. Marko's plan appears to be to partner him again with Kvyat in F1 as they have done throughout their junior careers.

Edited by st99, 18 December 2013 - 14:36.

[Jackmancer]

I googled Alex Lynn and wasn't disappointed.

 

[rjsports]

Felix Da Costa isn't in the Junior team anymore, but he is the new reserve driver. The same role as Buemi, but instead of WEC he will do DTM.

[noikeee]

I think this is the end of any remaining F1 hopes for FdC unless they all suck and he does freakishly well in the DTM. That's not going to happen. I don't think he's part of the Junior Team anymore neither - the bit I got from the news article yesterday here in Autosport was that he's now contracted by BMW and Red Bull only helped him get the seat because they're in charge of his management.

 

Regards these guys, uhh, I haven't followed anything outside GP2/WSR/GP3 last year (and even then didn't watch most of the races) so am a bit on the dark other than a quick look at their stats on DriverDB. Sainz has been slightly disappointing up until here, I don't think he's good enough unless he steps up his performance considerably this year, but he does have the advantage of a famous dad and of having been in the Red Bull team for much much longer which they prefer.

 

Lynn's been improving steadily but didn't win the F3 Euro champ with just 3 wins in 30 races, and got beaten by the Ferrari kid Marciello as team-mate... he's obviously talented still but shows up here at a defficit having a bit to prove. Meanwhile Gasly is on a different earlier point in his career, on an impressive sharp rise having won the FR2.0 Eurocup but he's still a kid (unlikely to make it to F1 in 1 year), and previous Eurocup winners have gone either way, continuing their impressive climb through the ranks like Bottas, Frijns and Vandoorne, or failing in the next step like Hartley, Albuquerque or Kobayashi.

 

Gasly looks on paper the most impressive of the 3 at the moment but also the one with most to learn, more danger of flopping and a bit too young to be in F1 anytime soon as well, unless he does a Kvyat. It's really anyone's guess on who could take Vergne's seat in 1 year (which isn't a given neither but does sound to me like a real possibility).

[Peat]

I don't get the Alex Lynn move, i would have thought he'd be much better off stepping up to WSR. He's been succesful at this level for a while now.

[rjsports]

I think it's not only his decision, and Red Bull want to have at least 1 driver in GP3. Since Gasly won the Eurocup title he is getting money to drive in 3.5 so that one is easy and Sainz drove F3 in 2012 and GP3 in 2013 so he needs to step in a faster car as well.

[Brandz07]

Lynn was great last year, he was consistently at the front against talented veteran Rosenqvist and Prema's title hope Marciello. Considering it was his first time at a lot of the tracks, he was never going to get ahead of Felix or Rafaelle. On the tracks he had raced on before though, notably Brands Hatch and Macau, he either won or finished very strongly. I'm excited to see what he can do next year, surprised it's in GP3 though...

 

Regarding Felix da Costa, he's certainly not in the junior team anymore (it says in their press release) but I believe he's still backed by Red Bull.

Edited by Brandz07, 18 December 2013 - 12:21.

[st99]

I edited the OP with the clarification about AFDC.

 

They have just 3 drivers for next year, just when one seat is probably going to be available  .

Although, on the near future a promotion for RBR seems unlikely because Vettel and Ricciardo are only 26 and 24, so unless Vettel moves to another team or Ricciardo underperfoms massively, there won't be an open seat for a long time. Until now, with Webber's retirement approaching, they had the possibility to move up but now not so much.

 

Regarding the current drivers, as I said, Sainz is the one with more possibilities for his age, the categoy where he'll be racing and because he's the one who has been longer with RB. But if he fails to win or at least challenge for the championship, I don't think he'll get another opportunity because his past two season haven't been too impressive (because of the bad luck or some silly incidents he keeps getting in).

If he doesn't get it and Vegne isn't renewed I think AFDC has a chance if he does well in DTM.

[William Hunt]

I believe Red Bull made the right decisions, apart from not giving Antonio Felix Da Costa a race seat (I think he should have been given Vergne's seat). Blomqvist underperformed and Visser and O'Keefe underperformed a lot. Pierre Gasly and Alex Lynn are excellent additions, I think they also should have added Alessio Picariello to their program.

Edited by William Hunt, 18 December 2013 - 16:29.

[goingthedistance]

It's a shame they haven't managed to find an American. I remember reading a few months back that Helmut Marko was combing the States looking for an American to add to their program (for obvious marketing reasons).