Jaime Alguersuari’s F1 dreams were shattered by the briefest of phone calls (Image: Getty)
Former driver Jaime Alguersuari was brutally sacked by the team in a one-minute phone call – and still doesn’t understand why. has become the having his contract, which was only extended earlier this year, cut short 12 months early.
The axe came as no surprise after a shocking season for the Mexican, who finished a distant eighth in the drivers’ standings while team-mate took a fourth successive title. Perez, who has been replaced by Liam Lawson, joins a long list of drivers who have been jettisoned by over the past two decades.
While he could have few complaints, many others down the years have been harshly treated – like Alguersuari. The Spaniard previously held the crown of F1’s youngest driver, making his debut for Toro Rosso – the name of ’s junior team at the time – at the age of just 19 years and 125 days in 2009. That record now belongs to Verstappen, who made his first start at the age of 17.
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Alguersuari spent three years in F1 from 2009 to 2011, scoring 31 points across 46 races. In what proved to be his final season, he regularly exceeded expectations, picking up 25 of the team’s 41 points.
Those performances understandably led him to believe he would be promoted to the main team in 2012, and he turned down a move to the newly formed Lotus team, where he would have partnered with Kimi Raikkonen. However, Mark Webber’s decision to stay on for one more season saw Alguersuari left out in the cold and eventually dropped.
He told the in 2023: “The [2011] season went really well, but I didn’t sign the contract because it seemed obvious that, having been with for six years – for me it was obvious, anyway – that doing what we were doing, beating my team-mate and getting the car into the top eight consistently, it was good enough to secure my place at seat in 2012, because we thought Mark Webber was leaving.”
While Alguersuari remains grateful to for the opportunity they gave him, the manner of his dismissal still stings more than a decade on. He said: “Without I would never have had the chance to be in F1.
Jaime Alguersuari during his final season with Red Bull’s junior team (Image: Getty)
“But what is also crystal clear is the way they sacked me was not the way they should have done it. They waited until the very last minute of the season to do that.
“That hurt a lot because it was the end of my career. I had talks with other teams, but they were asking for money which we didn’t have. That hurt a lot because I did the job asked of me. I always thought, ‘if you get beaten by your team-mate, if you don’t perform, you should leave’.
“But if you’re putting a car that isn’t supposed to be in the points in the points, and you’re consistently beating your team-mate and beating world champions, it’s crystal clear that you deserve that chance.”
Sergio Perez has joined the long list of drivers to be axed by Red Bull (Image: Getty)
On the brutally-short call that sealed his fate, he recalled: “It was a very quick phone call lasting just one minute. It was a very tough thing, and I didn’t understand why. I still don’t understand why even today.
“The thing is, the two drivers who came after us [ and Jean-Eric Vergne] didn’t beat our results. They upgraded one of them [Ricciardo] to and he then came third in the world championship.
“I understand how F1 works, but I don’t really want to buy how they decided this, because it was not a sporting decision. They played their cards, and I wasn’t smart enough to move out at the right time.”