Red Bull will reveal its 2026 season driver line-up across its two teams on Tuesday, team principal and CEO Laurent Mekies has confirmed.
Red Bull initially planned to make its final decision on its driver line-ups by the end of November, but it since backtracked on it as it had second thoughts on its final Racing Bulls seat.
Isack Hadjar is expected to be promoted to the main Red Bull team to partner Max Verstappen, while junior driver Arvid Lindblad is set to take the Frenchman’s vacant berth at Racing Bulls.
That leaves one Racing Bulls seat up for grabs for Liam Lawson, who looked set to have done enough to retain his place in recent months, or Verstappen’s struggling Red Bull partner Yuki Tsunoda.
When asked about Red bull’s plans after the Qatar Grand Prix, Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies confirmed a decision will be made on Tuesday, so whoever misses out gets a send-off in Abu Dhabi and its looming decision doesn’t become a distraction while Verstappen mounts an outside title bid.
“All I can tell you is that we will in fact stick to our plan and we will announce on Tuesday what the driver line-up is,” Mekies said. “We are confident it will not disturb the focus in Abu Dhabi.”
Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Dom Gibbons / LAT Images via Getty Images
Following Verstappen’s win in Qatar, another victory in Abu Dhabi could yet swing the 2025 title battle his way if Norris fails to finish higher than fourth. Any help from Tsunoda in the second car, which as of yet has not been forthcoming, could make the difference between a spectacular fifth world championship for the Dutchman or a maiden title for Norris or Oscar Piastri, who also has a mathematical chance.
“It could be down to the last point. It could be mega important,” Mekies said, as he acknowledged the team’s need to have Tsunoda in the mix, as he was in Saturday’s sprint in Qatar. “You have seen today Lando fall back into the pack behind Kimi [Antonelli] and Carlos [Sainz], but he was very close to falling back behind Fernando [Alonso] and the other guys where Yuki potentially was.
“It will be super important to have Yuki at 100%. He has done a strong weekend with us. Strong on Friday, strong in the sprint, P5. Yes, he got kicked out of Q1, but that was only three-tenths off Max. There are a lot of guys that would be happy to be three tenths off Max in qualifying.
“So, he has done a strong weekend. We need another strong weekend in Abu Dhabi, because everything will be needed.”
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