Red Bull and AlphaTauri
©RedBull
Just as we saw in the case of Ferrari and Alfa Romeo, what happens about reserve drivers at Red Bull is intimately connected with the situation at its sister squad AlphaTauri, formerly Toro Rosso - so much so that it's impossible to consider them separately.
Such is the revolving door at the Red Bull junior programme, all four drivers in the two teams have driven for both teams in the past, swapping and changing between the squads even mid-season showing there is complete fluidity when it comes to the driver line-ups. If either Verstappen or Albon tested positive for coronavirus then Red Bull would simply replace them with someone from the AlphaTauri line-up: whether it would be Pierre Gasly or Daniil Kvyat would depend on which was seen as the most 'on form' at the time. So that just leaves the question of who AlphaTauri would bring in to plug the hole it left.
Ordinarily we'd expect the squad to summon the latest driver from the Red Bull junior programme, but that conveyor belt of talent has uncharacteristically stuttered of late and left it with a temporary gap in supply before the likes of Jüri Vips, Jack Doohan, Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda or Jehan Daruvala are ready to step up, let alone have been able to gather enough points to be eligible for an FIA superlicence. But two former products of the programme are firmly back in the frame:
Sergio Sette Camara
Sergio Sette Camara was part of the Red Bull junior team back in 2016 when he was racing in FIA European Formula 3, and even took part in an F1 test with Toro Rosso. Last year he was stolen away by McLaren as their development driver after the bosses at Woking were impressed by how well he compared to Carlin team mate Lando Norris in the 2018 Formula 2 championship. But this year the 21-year-old Brazilian has returned 'home' and is the official reserve driver for both the Red Bull and AlphaTauri teams in 2020, putting him in pole position to step up if any of the four regular drivers fall ill. The only fly in the ointment is his pre-existing commitment to race in Japanese Super Formula, which could present travel and quarantine problems.
Sebastian Buemi
If circumstances did rule out Sette Camara then it could benefit Sebastien Buemi, himself another former member of the Red Bull junior programme. The Swiss driver made his F1 bow in 2009 and spent three seasons with Toro Rosso but was let go in 2012 in favour of Daniel Ricciardo. He's remained on Red Bull's books as a test and reserve driver ever since, while plying his trade in the World Endurance Championship where he was part of the Toyota line-up that won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2018 and 2019. Buemi's also been a mainstay of Formula E and was inaugural champion in 2016, putting him firmly back in Helmut Marko's good books.
