“In the end there was a crash at the Nürburgring and I had a disagreement with Franz when I returned to the pit. I love Franz, he had a tough job and it really comes down to my patience to be there and accept anything… I was over it. He was irritating me, I’m sure he was disrespecting Franz and we had a little altercation on pit road.
“The following weekend they replaced me and put Sebastian Vettel in the car, but I think it was mainly because I wasn’t happy with the situation. It was pretty clear that they wanted to take Sebastian to one of our cars, and I was basically the first one to raise my hand and say, ‘You can have him, good luck!’ “It’s hard.”
“Carte blanche” from the Red Bull boss
So, a year and a half after arriving in F1, Speed was on the sidelines.
It wouldn’t be a complete separation between driver and company, however, as Red Bull co-founder and owner Dietrich Mateschitz gave Speed the opportunity to remain part of the family and represent them elsewhere.
“Red Bull, being the amazing company they are, was willing to keep me on their program,” he says. “After Sebastian got in my car, they waited a couple of races to see where I was going to race. When he ran in a similar place, I got a call to see Didi and, bless him, he gave me carte blanche and asked me what I wanted to do.
“When I wasn’t sure what Red Bull was going to do, I looked at other options and started lining up other things in F1, but as soon as I met with Didi and realized they were still behind me, it was a no. . -headache. I wouldn’t have a sporting career without Red Bull, and they have given that opportunity to many athletes.