Their programme is a disaster.
Junior Programmes are the victims of their own success. A fully adopted idea by the whole of the formula 1 grid. Over they years, they have developed into a programme, where you have to be on a junior team to make the grid. That is how it seems to work. But, these programmes, are brutal, unforgiving and easily they are their own down fall.
There is a lot of success, we see it down the grid due to the programmes which bring through the young drivers. Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen, Leclerc, Gasly, Riccardo, Grosjean, Norris, Sainz, Russell, Giovinazzi, Magnussen and Kvyat. Thirteen drivers on the grid, have come from driver academies of teams on the grid. Every team holds at least one product or a current junior team driver. They are a clear success. There is not dispute about that.
But, with those thirteen, come all those who have never made it. It is a much longer list than all those successful ones. It depends on your personal definition of "success" is. Are drivers, whom have driven for a year in formula 1, successful formula 1 drivers? You can decide that. But for now, let say, they are moderate.
There is a clear place to start talking of the negative part of these programmes. Red Bull. In 2001, they established a junior team. Since 2001, to now there have been eighty three drivers, who have been or are now part of the Red Bull junior team. Currently their are ten along the ranks of the junior programme. So, lets remove those ten. That is Seventy three drivers, and only fourteen have ever graduated to formula 1, with either of their two teams. It is not great, when you hear those numbers of how many have gone through.
Ferrari are not all much better, they have had eighteen past or present academy drivers. Four have made it to formula 1, two not in the route of them, Sergio Perez, moved to McLaren. Lance Stroll to Williams. So the statics are not always on Ferrari's side.
Mercedes, there programme is fairly new. They only have had four drivers and only currently have four junior drivers. Two in karting, and the other two, one is in formula 1 and the other is a reserve driver waiting to come back. So it is fairly positive for them.
But back to Red Bull, they've had their programme one of the longest times. It came in four years after McLaren established theirs. Over the years, this programme has developed and it has seemingly seen as one of the most successful. It is. However, it is brutal and unforgiving to young drivers. Helmut Marko is the man in charge of this programme. He, is part of the reason why this programme believes it is superior to everyone else.
They have the right to be like this, they created a back-to-back four time world champion in this programme and since the height of their success to now, they have been their own victim because they believe they are superior to others. The brutality of the way they axe drivers is crazy. Have one bad season? One bad race? You are gone, that is the case, sometimes. Prime examples of this are drivers they have had to bring back because they are short of drivers. That alone, proves they have done this wrong. They have had to bring back drivers in whom, they decided they did not want because talent such as Verstappen and Gasly were too good, and they did not need the others.
Kvyat, he was dropped from Red Bull once, and Toro Rosso twice. Yet they have bought him back once again. Due to the fact, they were and are too quick to get rid of drivers they do not want anymore, because they feel, that they have drivers who can replace them easily. Kvyat, had a troubling season and half for Red Bull, not always bad. But Red Bull wanted to rush through a young Dutch driver. So he was demoted to Toro Rosso. Then his time there did not go always well, so they got rid believing they had the right replacements. But Sainz was off and they only had Gasly. So they bought back Brendon Hartley. (again another case)
Albon, in 2012, when he was only sixteen when he was dropped from the programme because of one lacklustre year in open wheel racing. His first year actually. He went on to make Red Bull look stupid because fans of the junior series such as F2, F3, could easily see the talent of this boy. But Red Bull, well Toro Rosso, now desperate for drivers, they picked up Alex Albon again, because they were short of drivers.
See Albon and Kvyat, are both proof, that Red Bull could not care less, they always think they have someone better, someone younger, someone with more talent. The brutality of the programme is widely spoken of, because they have become short of drivers eligible for formula 1 because of their own mentality.
Red Bull actually are not the worst. Statically speaking. No programme gets as much stick as Red Bull and rightly so. But statically, the biggest problem is Renault. Created in 2002, past and present there have been forty nine. Graduates of their programme to formula 1? ONE. Romain Grosjean. That has to be one of the worst to look at. They have, currently nine academy drivers. But honestly, you look at the statics of it. Their programme is a disaster.
Renault, have had a troubled time in formula 1, they created an engine for four/five years which was brilliant. But they have seemingly, created no one. You look at McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, they have seemingly shaped these drivers, who are successful and are drivers who fans consider brilliant and talented. In no way, is this saying Romain Grosjean bad, because he has talent, but for him to be the only one to come from a major manufacture. It is not, what you want to hear.
It is hard to go on about these programmes negatively. They work. It is a fact. But they are fundamentally troubled. Junior teams, junior programmes, junior academies, are the victims of their own success. The pulling of funding for some drivers, it hurts, it can ruin careers, because the teams believe, they can do this. Morally, it is not fair. But, this is Formula 1. It is brutal, it is unforgiving, we have accepted that.
These teams become short of drivers, and it is due to that mind set these teams have. Yet, it is accepted and it always will be. Half the grid are out of junior teams. Every team has adopted a junior team for their F1 team. It is how F1 works now. But it is brutal to watch and listen to.
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