Sections of the Spanish media claim to have unearthed perhaps the true reason for Red Bull’s decision to drop Jaime Alguersuari.
The young Spaniard’s Toro Rosso teammate Sebastien Buemi has also been ousted so that the Faenza camp’s lineup will feature the fresher faces of Daniel Ricciardo and French rookie Jean-Eric Vergne next year.
But the Spanish reports, including the ABC newspaper, have seized on a video that was recorded in the Toro Rosso pits during Saturday practice in Korea in mid October.
It depicts Alguersuari - in the presence of his boss Franz Tost - being told off by the implacable Dr Helmut Marko, the manager of the energy drink company’s driver programme.
ABC said it was "the day Alguersuari’s wings were cut".
Marko is telling off Alguersuari, 21, not only for holding up senior team Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel on a flying lap but also for "not accepting" the rebuke.
After Alguersuari hits back by enquiring sarcastically if he is supposed to give way to the other cars "on every single lap", Marko turns to Tost and says: "That’s not acceptable."