At some point shortly it will be announced that Max Verstappen is moving to Red Bull Racing, with immediate effect, replacing Daniil Kvyat. The Russian will be switched back to Scuderia Toro Rosso, for which he raced in 2014. The decision has been made by Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s consultant in motor racing, presumably in league with the team, although it seems that when it comes to drivers, Marko gets to decide.

The switch seems to be overly harsh for Kvyat, who clearly has the pace to be an F1 frontrunner, as he proved by finishing on the podium in China, just one race ago. It seems that Marko is unimpressed by the young Russian’s accident in Sochi, but clearly there must be more to this than one mistake. Perhaps it is a belief that Daniil makes the same mistake more than once, something which does not go down well with the demanding Marko.

One must also consider that Marko wants to get Verstappen into a seat where he will do well and so be predisposed to stay with Red Bull in the longer term. His contract runs out at the end of 2017.