David Coulthard explains Red Bull's "good problem" in the F1 driver market
Red Bull and sister team Racing Bulls have been at the centre of speculation in the Formula 1 driver transfer market
David Coulthard on Red Bull's "good problem" it is suffering in the Formula 1 driver transfer market, with the team being forced to deal with a bloated stable of talent.
Red Bull and sister team Racing Bulls have been at the centre of transfer market speculation of late, with Max Verstappen's future a constant topic of discussion, especially now his exit clause appears set to activate during the summer break, while junior driver Nikola Tsolov is putting forward a strong case to be promoted into an F1 seat.
With Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson, and Arvid Lindblad, the current incumbents of the seats beyond Verstappen, it would be a tough call for any of the trio to miss out on a seat in order to house the Bulgarian F2 championship leader.
Reports that Tsolov had been 'promised' an F1 seat were rubbished recently by Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane, while Lawson batted away comments on his future at Silverstone, with the New Zealander, who has already been promoted to and demoted from Red Bull, viewed as the likely driver to make way, despite his impressive form.
Speaking on the Up to Speed podcast, Coulthard said: “It's a good problem to have. I guess there's always a possibility that, if they're happy with the others, they could help position him [Tsolov, find a seat] somewhere else.”
He added: “Red Bull is ahead of the game in terms of their motorsports investment and drivers over the history of time, if you look at what they've invested and now what the valuations are,” he said.
“I don't think they're thinking 'we're getting to the limit of what we can afford to invest in this'."
Tsolov recently made history by becoming the fourth driver to complete a clean sweep of wins across a single weekend. But when his Silverstone success was added to his feature race win in Austria, Tsolov became the first driver in F2 to ever win three races on the bounce.
“It's a good problem to have. Listen for that name, Nikola Tsolov from Bulgaria. He drives very well, is a great personality out of the car as well, so I'm looking forward to seeing him in F1.”
