His column proposes that owner Dietrich Mateschitz might pull both the main squad and Scuderia Toro Rosso from the F1 paddock and place them into Red Bull's own grand prix world championship.
It should be stressed that this is all theoretical at this point and is probably the nuclear option out of all the possibilities, but Noble's thoughts are curious, and given the team's breakdown with current suppliers Renault, it doesn't seem entirely implausible.
The French manufacturer have supplied power-units consistently underpowered against leaders Mercedes for a couple of seasons now, but if Red Bull were to stay Renault is probably the only option they've got, and that's already meant some awkward making-up by Christian Horner, stating that continuing with Renault isn't impossible.
Red Bull are clearly being withheld from Mercedes and Ferrari engines by work teams who are still wary of their rival's ability to create a chassis which with a Mercedes or Ferrari engine could lead the field like they did from 2010-13, and going by their paddock newsletter they're not happy at how they're being "forced" out of F1.
What's reportedly holding Mateschitz back from calling it quits is the impact on staff at both Milton Keynes and Faenza, facilities built to develop F1 cars. So why not have a "Red Bull Grand Prix World Championship", as Noble puts it?
The larger Red Bull company definitely isn't short of money, they run several championships already including the Red Bull Air Race, they of course have their own circuit in the Red Bull Ring, host of F1's Austrian Grand Prix (would that drop off the calendar if they quit?).
Already some fans have imagined possible calendars which brought back more traditional F1 hosts. Could a Red Bull GP series position itself as F1's hip alternative, bringing back V8 or even V10 engines in response to the controversial V6 hybrid engines powering F1 currently? What drivers could it attract alongside already-contracted Red Bull and Toro Rosso competitors?
Again, this is (for now) purely speculation. The likelier outcome is that the two teams remain in F1, whether under Red Bull ownership or not. But motorsport's seen discussions over a breakaway championship before, like in 2009 when eight of the ten teams threatened to pull out over plans for annual budget caps.
But what if this became a reality? What would you like to see from a Red Bull GP series, and do you think both it and F1 could ever realistically co-exist? We're very interested to read your thoughts.
Last edited by a moderator:
