Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes an idea for teams to run a third car specifically for a young, inexperienced driver would be “impractical” for Formula 1.
The suggestion was put forward by his Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff, who is currently facing a tough predicament with Esteban Ocon, as the Frenchman, who is the lead member of the German manufacturer’s driver program, faces not being on the grid next season.
“Give us a third car. Make it mandatory to put a young driver, with maximum two years [of F1 experience], in that car,” he said.
“The costs wouldn’t be huge. The grid would be packed and we would have fantastic shows of new kids on the block coming up and fighting hard with the Valtteri’s and Lewis’ of this world and surprising us.”
While acknowledging the pros of such an idea, Horner sees too many hurdles to making it a reality.
“It’s an interesting one, but the practicalities of running three-car teams – there are things like pit stops – it’s a very complicated thing to do,” he told Motorsport.com.
“Interesting in concept, but once you get into the practicalities of it, it’s very, very complex.
“I can’t see the midfield [teams] being particularly happy with it.”
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One such midfield squad that has a driver program is McLaren, however, CEO Zak Brown echoed much of Horner’s sentiment.
“I like the idea of third cars, but how do you manage that?” he said.
“I think there’s room on the grid, but not for everyone to have one. Maybe you have them at certain races, but it’s got to be equal and fair.”
