Quote Originally Posted by the sniper View Post
How many of those are 'Red Bull A-list' though? I get the impression that not all Red Bull athletes are in the same boat... You have the likes of Loeb, who I imagine is funded out of a kind of 'Central Bank of Red Bull', whereas at the other end you've got your Katsuta's or Evans, who I imagine are more on pocket money deals by comparison, dished out by the equivalent of a 'Red Bull regional development fund'.

If Oliver were to be offered a big money, multi year deal from the 'Central Bank of Red Bull', it'd probably be worth switching. If it's a standard 'Red Bull Athlete' association, he's presumably much better off trying to work with Monster. As much as I like Oliver, I see no reason to believe he'd be getting offered the former big deal at this point in his career.
I think you're right; not all are equal - some RB athletes are backed by each country's 'importer' - others by the main RB house. There is a list on the RB website of athletes. As somebody who follows MTB, there's a large number of them in that sport. Similarly, in MXGP, which is a Monster Energy sponsored series.

It's unusual for athletes to switch between the big two; from memory Jonathan Rea was a RB athlete back in BSB, but there was a big gap between getting ME backing. I can't see Oliver switching at all; he's their main guy in the WRC, and even went over to the USA last month. It's not something I see happening.