Isack Hadjar will replace Yuki Tsunoda as Max Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull Racing next year in a widely rumoured move announced on the eve of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Tsunoda, who was elevated to the senior team at the third round of this season, will lose his place on the grid but remain with the Red Bull program as a reserve driver.

His ousting means Kiwi Liam Lawson will retain his seat at Racing Bulls for 2026, with Formula 2 race winner Arvid Lindblad to join him at the Red Bull-owned Italian team.

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Hadjar has been 2025’s top rookie despite starting his campaign in the barriers on the formation lap at the Australian Grand Prix.

His single-lap speed has been particularly impressive. Despite steering what on average has been the sixth-quickest car, the Frenchman is the sport’s eighth-best qualifier, with an average qualifying result of 9.32, comfortably best among the midfielders and just behind Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton on 8.74.

With 51 points for the season so far, the 21-year-old is currently sitting 10th in the championship, two points ahead of Nico Hülkenberg.

“After all the hard work I have put in since joining the junior team, it’s such a great reward,” Hadjar said in a Red Bull statement.

“I’ve had many ups and downs throughout my career and they kept believing and pushing me.

“It’s an awesome move, to work with the best and learn from Max is something I can’t wait for.”

Isack Hadjar.Source: Getty Images

Hadjar will be Verstappen’s fourth teammate in less than two seasons, following Sergio Pérez, Lawson and Tsunoda.

“Everyone in the sport would agree it is impossible not to like Yuki, his personality is infectious, and he has become a very special part of the Red Bull family,” team principal Laurent Mekies said.

“On behalf of everyone at Red Bull, I thank him for what he has contributed so far and we know he will provide invaluable support to the 2026 projects moving forwards.”

Tsunoda was inducted to Red Bull Racing somewhat reluctantly by the then Christian Horner-led management, which had overlooked him in favour of Liam Lawson at the start of the season despite his strong form at Racing Bulls.

Lawson endured two disastrous rounds to open the campaign, qualifying on average almost a second behind Verstappen and recording just one 12th-place finish.

Tsunoda, however, has fared only a little better. On average he has qualified 0.513 seconds behind Verstappen in the dry, equating to a difference of 9.3 places. He’s scored just 30 points in 21 rounds, with an average finishing position of 12.1.

Yuki Tsunoda.Source: Getty Images

The 25-year-old, however, will retain a place in the Red Bull program as a reserve driver, with reports putting the role down to his long-time Honda backing.

Though Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls will switch to an in-house, Ford-supported power unit from next year, a deal with Honda will still be required for the team’s testing program, which will use cars from previous seasons. Honda has powered Racing Bulls since 2018 and Red Bull Racing since 2019.

The role could prove crucial to Tsunoda staying race fit for a possible return to the grid in 2027, when more than half the field will be out of contract.

Valtteri Bottas used a similar strategy to snare a role at Cadillac for 2026, having spent this season as a Mercedes reserve driver after being dropped by Sauber at the end of 2024.

Alex Albon used his year as Red Bull Racing reserve driver in 2021 to return to the grid with Williams in 2022.

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Lawson’s recovery from his brutal two-race axing from Red Bull Racing has been impressive, with the Kiwi rediscovering his equilibrium in the middle of the year to become a regular Q3 contender and scorer at Racing Bulls.

After having scored just once in the first 10 rounds, Lawson has accumulated 38 points to sit 14th in the standings — five points and one place ahead of Tsunoda — leaving him 13 points and four places behind teammate Hadjar.

Though his time in the Red Bull program will be limited by him having already been rejected by the senior team — no driver has been dropped from Red Bull Racing and returned — a full pre-season and campaign with one team will help him establish himself on the grid and pitch himself as a long-term grand prix driver.

Lindblad has long seemed destined for a rapid Formula 1 promotion, with Red Bull management holding him in high regard despite his dearth of junior titles, with only this year’s Formula Regional Oceania championship in his trophy cabinet.

He was fourth in the 2024 Formula 3 championship with a pair of feature wins, and his accelerated elevation to Formula 2 this season has been similarly mixed, with just one feature victory so far leaving him sixth in the standings with one round remaining.

But Red Bull has been impressed by his private testing program and pair of stand-in appearance during FP1 sessions this year, in Silverstone and Mexico City, with the latter of the two said to have been influential in getting him over the line.

“He (Lindblad) has demonstrated raw speed, maturity and potential, underscoring the team’s long-standing commitment to developing elite young talent,” Racing Bulls said in a statement.