Ex-F1 driver turned professional DJ, Jaime Alguersuari has expressed his “gratitude” to his former Red Bull family after recently making some controversial remarks.
The former Spanish driver competed for Red Bull sister side Scuderia Toro Rosso (known now as AlphaTauri) from 2010-2011; however, the 32-year-old actually made his debut at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix after replacing Sebastien Bourdais, who left the team.
The Spaniard completed the remaining rounds of the 2009 season, before then completing two full seasons.
Incredibly, when he made his debut at the Hungaroring he became the youngest driver to ever start an F1 race, after being just 19 years and 125 days; however, this record was obviously smashed by Max Verstappen.
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Alguersuari was part of the Red Bull driver academy for a number of years, meaning he had a very close relationship with top Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko.
However, in a recent interview with Spain’s El Confidencial, the DJ gave the impression that Marko was a horrible person to be around, after saying that he still remembers Marko being “always angry, telling us off as if we were children”.
Alguersuari was tipped to achieve incredible things in Formula 1; however, he became another Red Bull driver to feel the wrath of poor results.
At the end of 2011, the team opted to sack both the Spaniard and Sebastien Buemi, in favour of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo.
Alguersuari went on to feature in Formula E temporarily, before announcing his retirement from motorsport in 2015.
Whilst seven years have passed since he retired from racing, the DJ has revealed that he still suffers from trauma due to “the helplessness and frustration of never meeting expectations”.
These comments from Alguersuari quickly got around the world, leading many to question Marko’s approach and treatment of young drivers.
It isn’t the first time that Marko’s antics have been questioned, with Vergne having also been dropped very quickly himself.
Alguersuari actually decided to add to what he said during the interview, in what was a long post on social media.
Perhaps in a bid to protect Red Bull and Marko’s image, the Spaniard expressed how “deeply thankful” he is for everything Red Bull and Marko did for him.
Alguersuari went as far as saying that he “wouldn’t be who I am today” had it not been for his time as a Red Bull driver.
“I want to clarify something regarding Helmut Marko,” he posted.
“I am deeply thankful to have met him when I was 15, Helmut was my teacher and someone who always asked me to deliver to push and boost myself forward and beyond.
“I have not enough words of gratitude to RB and Helmut Marko because they have showed me a way of discipline, of dedication and hard f****ng work that is helping me out reach other goals in my life, in my music.
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“I’m 100% sure I wouldn’t be who I am today without being inside RB.
“When competing at the highest level w[h]ether is F1, football, rugby or golf, in order to highlight it requires an extremely demanding mind to look for more performance.
“Even if you win, RB will keep demanding you higher and higher and higher,” he added. “This is the junior team system, and it works.”