F1 Talk - Are Red Bull right to promote Max Verstappen?

Like many of you, I agree that Max Verstappen is one of Formula 1's most promising youngsters. While most people say he's a future race-winner and a possible world champion, I've seen something extra-he's got a little bit of Senna in him. I haven't watched a single one of Senna's races but I've seen the clips (yes, that documentary). Verstappen's aggression and his ability to overtake so many cars in many different ways has reminded me of those Senna clips. No doubt then, that he is a future world champion.

And he was in the right team to do it. That's right, he was. As I was exploring through Instagram, I stumbled across a picture of Daniil Kvyat. I had to open it, because Kvyat has been the center of attention over the last 2 races, by colliding with Vettel in China and last weekend in Russia. I have to admit I'm not so sure China was his fault, but Russia certainly was. When I opened the picture, it was posted by Toro Rosso, claiming he has joined their driver line-up for the rest of the season. At first I was surprised, then thought ''maybe it's a joke''. I quickly searched for Red Bull's Instagram account and found out that it wasn't fake: Verstappen has been promoted to the Red Bull Formula 1 Team and Kvyat has been demoted back to Scuderia Toro Rosso. And I realized that Red Bull have made a huge mistake.

Part of the reason is that Kvyat was promoted in the first place for being a very talented driver. Not as talented as Verstappen though, but still good enough to hang in there with Ricciardo, who is certainly one of the best drivers out there. What bugs me the most is not that Verstappen has replaced Kvyat, but because this is something Red Bull should've done before the start of the season. Kvyat's first season at RB was a good one, but he was also promoted after spending just one season in Toro Rosso. And if Verstappen is such a great driver, he should've been promoted earlier this season. This might not be good for Kvyat, obviously, but even for Verstappen. You see, he started the season in the STR, set it up perfectly for himself and now he has to leave that Ferrari-powered car for the Renault-powered car (they say it's TAG-Heuer, but we all know it's Renault). Now he's in a new-ish team, new people, new car, engine, set-up, and so on and so forth.

If he had joined the team from the start of the season, he would've been gelling quite nicely with his car. And the same thing goes for Kvyat.

Another problem this creates is not only is Verstappen very quick, he wants to be ahead of his team-mate. Remember how he was fighting with Sainz Jr. in Australia? And Carlos was just as young (in F1) as Max, but now he has to deal with Ricciardo. An experienced driver with loads of potential and the same knack of getting in front of his team-mate. This could lead to a huge conflict within the team and RB would be responsible for it. And of course they also have to deal with a very angry Kvyat, who might start looking at other teams by the end of the season.

Some say that this step is to ensure Verstappen doesn't get picked up by Ferrari, who will be looking for a new driver when Kimi Raikkonen retires at the end of this season. Verstappen, Bottas and Grosjean are some of the drivers hoping to get a seat in what could be a race-winning car next season. This step of RB might just open the door for Bottas and Grosjean, and close it for Verstappen. What will happen then? Only time will tell.