Laurent Mekies and Helmut Marko have confirmed that Red Bull are postponing their driver line-up decisions until after the 2025 season to focus on Max Verstappen’s World Championship fight.
The reigning world champion is now only 36 points off the pace in the Drivers’ Championship standings after finishing third in Mexico City on Sunday. With four Grands Prix and two sprint races remaining in the 2025 season, Verstappen’s hopes of scoring a fifth successive crown remain very much alive.
In the other half of the garage, the mood is very different. Yuki Tsunoda is fighting to save his F1 career and is coming under increasing pressure after scoring just three points in his last 13 Grand Prix starts.
Isack Hadjar is expected to replace him, with 18-year-old prodigy Arvid Lindblad tipped for a promotion into the Racing Bulls squad. A strong FP1 outing with Red Bull in Mexico City only improved his chances. However, whether his team-mate will be Tsunoda or Liam Lawson remains to be seen.
“We postponed our decision until the end of the season, because first we want to focus on the championship fight,” Marko explained. Asked if that meant an announcement in Abu Dhabi, he added: “No, but it will be around Abu Dhabi. We will just focus on the championship first.”
The decision was confirmed by team principal Mekies. “We want to take a bit more time before we make a decision on the drivers,” he said. “Yuki is making steps forward, and the other kids are making steps forward as well. We have no reason to rush the decision, so we will take a bit more time.”
Hadjar’s rise to prominence has been nothing short of meteoric. The French-Algerian starlet was promoted into F1 as part of the chain reaction set off by Sergio Perez’s departure from Red Bull last December, and he has grasped his opportunity with both hands.
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There is no doubt that he has the talent to succeed with Red Bull. The 21-year-old scored a debut-season podium in Zandvoort, has been blisteringly quick in qualifying, and has eight top-10 finishes to his name. However, the moniker of Verstappen’s team-mate comes with an uncomfortable history.
Perez made his thoughts clear on the situation ahead of his home race in Mexico. “It’s a very difficult place,” he told Sky Sports F1. “Obviously, being next to Max is very difficult, but being next to Max in Red Bull… it’s something people don’t understand.
“There are so many things that I could tell you. But it’s simply just a very difficult job for a driver. There is no driver that can survive there. It doesn’t matter if you bring [Lewis] Hamilton or [Charles] Leclerc – whoever you bring, there is going to struggle massively.”
