Former Grand Prix racer and team owner Gerhard Berger has lent his support to Helmut Marko’s Toro Rosso’s decision to fire both Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi, and replace them with Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.
The Austrian, who co-owned the team formerly known as Minardi between 2006-8, has told Motorsport-Total that Alguersuari and Buemi were given ample opportunity to prove themselves in the junior Red Bull team, and that ultimately neither was strong enough to warrant a place on the 2012 grid.
“They need to find one that will eventually be the successor of Mark Webber or Sebastian Vettel when they move on,” he is quoted as saying.
“The demand for Red Bull is the highest, as we know, and the two [Alguersuari and Buemi] are at most average.”
Berger was himself no stranger to dumping Red Bull development drivers from the team’s line-up during his time at the helm of the Faenza-based outfit.
In 2007, he was on of the managers to lead the decision to fire the underwhelming Scott Speed from the team’s line-up mid-season, taking on a certain youngster known as Sebastian Vettel in his place.
[Original image via The F1 Times]
Richard Bailey
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