Red Bull have successfully overseen the promotion of 17 junior drivers to Formula 1 since they joined the grid in 2005.
Some have won multiple drivers’ championships, some have taken multiple podiums, and some have failed to last more than a couple of seasons in Formula 1.
For decades, Red Bull have now set the standard for teams wanting to coax the next generation of drivers into their cockpits.
One of the main men behind the operation has been Helmut Marko, but the advisor is now 82 years old. He won’t be around forever, and soon, the role will be performed by someone else.
Marko opposed the signing of Kimi Raikkonen back in 2001, which remains one of the few decisions he has got wrong to this day.
After a spell at Toro Rosso between 2009 and 2011, the youngest F1 driver ever had ‘trauma’ from Marko at the time, over how pressured their environment was. They demand results.
READ MORE: Helmut Marko once created a ‘mess’ for Red Bull with Renault engines after meetings with Niki Lauda
Photo by Peter Fox/Getty ImagesSebastien Buemi was left ‘extremely disappointed’ after his wheels flew off at the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix
One of Marko’s earliest gambles with Red Bull’s junior team – Toro Rosso, came in 2009 when he had Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari in the car at the end of the season.
They continued as the sport’s youngest driver line-up for 2010, and just four races into the season, disaster would strike.
In practice for the Chinese Grand Prix, Buemi’s two front wheels would explode under braking for the hairpin in the final sector. The reason? A suspension failure sheared them off.
Hilariously for fans, the Swiss driver continued to steer into the slide when he went off the track, despite having no wheels in contact with the ground. That’s a natural reaction for any racing driver.
The rest of 2010 wouldn’t be much better for Buemi, who finished 16th in the standings, finishing no higher than eighth in any race.
In 2011, he improved to 15th in the standings and scored seven more points, but was dropped at the end of the campaign. He became Red Bull’s test driver for the next five years and continues to hold a relationship with them today.
He won the second-ever running of Formula E during the 2015-16 season, and still competes in the series today for Jaguar.
Buemi made a Red Bull compromise admission in pre-season, predicting that 2025 may be a tough year for Max Verstappen and the team. Six months later, he looks to be right.
What did Sebastien Buemi say after his crash at the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix
In an incredibly rare instance of a blameless Formula 1 crash, Buemi walked away from his shunt in Shanghai unharmed.
At that stage, he was point-less to begin the campaign, and he was probably starting to feel the pressure of scoring a significant result. His crash cost him nearly three hours of crucial running.
“There’s not much to say about what happened in free practice one,” he told The Guardian. “I braked, the wheels came off and that was it. Physically, I was fine, though.
“But I have to say, I am extremely disappointed that, once again, through no fault of my own, I have been unable to run for almost all of the three hours available.”
Two races later in Monaco, he would finally score a point for 10th place, featuring inside the top 10 in three of the next four events.