Yet when Red Bull needed to fill Toro Rosso’s two seats for this season it had to recall Daniil Kvyat (who it booted out of F1 a little over a year earlier) and Alexander Albon (who spent a single year on their programme in 2012).
Although Ticktum and Pierre Gasly, the latter the latest driver to be linked to demotion after a tough start to his first full season at Red Bull, can draw solace from the fact that there patently is life outside of Red Bull.

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