Algie and Buemi victims of Red Bull curse

Buemis are for life, not just for 50-odd races. If Patronise F1 had a flag, it might well be flying at half mast this week. The only driver to ever be quoted below this website's logo, Sebastien "I went off in the gravel, I was so fast, three and a half tenths, NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Buemi has been dumped into F1's dustbin by the Toro Rosso squad, along with his team mate and F1's fastest DJ Jaime Alguersuari. Who to be fair, we care less about. NOT GOOD QUOTING WE DO NOT LIKE.

After The Ear speculated himself silly over what the Red Bull junior squad might do with their four-into-two driver situation earlier this month on these pages, the end result has actually been what he termed 'Scenario D', the nuclear option. As of today, Algie and Buemi are gone from the Toro Rosso ranks, and in their place for the 2012 season comes the absurdly highly-rated pairing of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo.

As 2012 driver announcements went, today's was possibly even more of a surprise than Kimi Raikkonen's return with Lotus/Renault/Lonault/Retus, or even the news that Ferrari were retaining the services of Felipe Massa. But in reality, the goggle-eyed Swiss driver and his dance music-loving compadre have simply found themselves following the usual path for just about any Red Bull development driver since the caffeinated pop makers turned their attention to motorsport.

For despair at the fate of Alguersuari or Buemi, you could just as easily recall the end of the F1 careers of Christian Klien, or Scott Speed, or the unceremonious dumping of Tonio Liuzzi, who was at least able to cobble together a modicum of a career after losing the backing of the Fizzy Pop brand, but not much of one.

And then there are all of those who fail to even get to Formula One before the Red Bull development programme deems them surplus to requirements. The likes of Brendon Hartley, Neel Jani, Michael Ammermuller, Filipe Albuquerque and Robert Wickens have all enjoyed Red Bull backing, and got within sniffing distance at one point or another, only to be left by the wayside.

Unfortunately, the grimly efficient way that the Red Bull giant deals with their youngsters is simply part and parcel of the nature of the programme itself. Designed to nurture and then fast-track talents like a certain current double world champion up to the front of the grid as soon as is logistically possible, not to bankroll a plethora of midfield drivers, no matter how amusing their soundbites could be, or how awesome their mixing decks are.

In that sense, dumping Buemi and Algie after three (well, two and a half in Algie's case) years service to Brand Red Bull, in favour of two of the most exciting prospects currently milling around the fringes of the F1 big time is a no-brainer. Fun though both of them were, neither ever showed enough potential to make Red Bull think that they could be the next big thing.

And while neither driver disgraced themselves last season, equally neither driver really did anything especially spectacular. They spent almost the entire season matching each other play-for-play, giving the overriding impression that they were the proverbial eight of spades and eight of clubs, both equally valuable, but neither really worth keeping in your hand if there's a chance to trade up.

And, with Mark Webber now contracted up as Vettel's Boobens for another season, the team has the luxury of now not needing a young starlet for a RBR drive until 2013 at the earliest, so why not throw both of their most likely superstars of the future into their junior team in what may well become a shootout for a Red Bull drive.

The only issue with what might possibly never be referred to as The Great Toro Rosso Purge Of 2011 is that the Red Bull company have left themselves open to face precisely the same problem when coming to judge Buemi 2.0 and Algie 2.0.

The potential is still there for either Ricciardo or Vergne to blow their rivals into the weeds next year, and thereby mark themselves out as The Real Thing, but equally they may match each other point-for-point and result-for-result, leaving Red Bull none the wiser as to whether they've got two hot flushes on their hands, or another middling pair of eights. Or something.

Still, even if that does happen, it won't be long before the next generation of Red Bull development drivers are starting to make a nuisance of themselves in the junior ranks. And then it might well be today's Buemi party-poopers who find their own parties pooped.

But for now, Patty is left to mourn the passing of Buemi's F1 career (assuming he doesn't go and get a HRT drive or something). Still, we'll always have those three and a half tenths.

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