Reports suggest that Red Bull were prepared to offer IndyCar driver Colton Herta a "guest spot" for practice sessions in Austria prior to the confirmation that the American will not be permitted to race in F1 in the 2023 season.
The team's plans to bring Herta in to fill a seat in their sister team AlphaTauri collapsed last week. According to Motorsport-Total.com, the plans to get him to take part in a DTM race fell to pieces with his prospects of racing for AlphaTauri.
Herta is currently not eligible for the superlicence required to race in F1, given that he has an eight-point deficit. The 22-year-old admitted that there was nothing the teams could have done to change the FIA's mind about the superlicence.
As reported by planetF1, he said:
“At the end of the day it is the FIA’s decision. They listen to the teams a lot but it’s the FIA’s call over superlicences. They don’t want to piss off all their team owners and current manufacturers just to accept one more person. It’s a big puzzle with a lot of moving parts.”
"Nothing was ever enough" for Red Bull, says former F1 driver
Former Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) driver Jaime Alguersuari recently revealed the trauma that came with being part of the Milton Keynes-based team back in his racing days. He admitted that at no point was any sort of success enough to make the team happy, making it what seemed like one of the toughest experiences of the Spaniard's racing career.
He said:
"At Red Bull, in Formula 1, you didn't live in peace, even with great results. You did a great job, and you never left feeling like the job was done and everyone is happy. Your rivals congratulated you more than the people on your team. And you've lived that feeling since you were fifteen. Nothing was ever enough. And if you look, it's Max Verstappen's pattern with his father.”
In an interview with El Confidencial, Jaime also admitted that he did not like Red Bull, and neither did Carlos Sainz, who is now racing for Ferrari:
"I think that neither I nor Carlos ever liked Red Bull...They helped us because there was talent and we were worth it. But deep down they are looking for another pilot profile. I say this with my hand on my heart. Red Bull wants to find drivers in the middle of a lake, who are not known, not their family, not their friends, and who only depend on Red Bull. It was not the case of a driver whose father was a promoter of the categories before Formula 1 and who had a position and a vote in the sector. And in the case of Carlos, more of the same."
In 2011, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Éric Vergne replaced Alguersuari and his then team-mate Sébastien Buemi at Torro Rosso, after which the Spaniard went on to contest in Formula E and then pursue a career as a DJ.