Verstappen<\/a> has a deal with Red Bull until 2028, but that does not prevent him from leaving the team before then. Mercedes and Toto Wolff\u2019s interest in the Dutchman will certainly still be there as the 2026 F1 regulations<\/a> come into effect.<\/p>\n Now that Red Bull seemingly have Verstappen\u2019s commitment for next season, they have the issue of the second seat. Yuki Tsunoda<\/a> is desperately struggling in the RB21, having scored only seven points since replacing Liam Lawson<\/a> two races into 2025.<\/p>\n Tsunoda and Racing Bulls<\/a> pair Lawson and Isack Hadjar<\/a> are all out of contract in 2025. It has left fans guessing as to who will take the second Red Bull<\/a> seat next to Verstappen in 2026.<\/p>\n The general feeling is that Hadjar will replace Tsunoda at Red Bull<\/a> next season. The Frenchman has been hugely impressive in his rookie F1 season, with regular Q3 appearances and points finishes making him one of the standout performers in 2025.<\/p>\n Several fans on Reddit<\/a> believe that the Racing Bulls star will earn his promotion to the main team next year, while Tsunoda faces the prospect of losing his place in F1 entirely.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Hadjar is showing so much promise that you have to put him there but they have to commit to him for at least a couple of years. Throwing drivers in the deep end and switching out during a season doesn\u2019t help anyone,\u201d said one fan.<\/p>\n \u201cFeel like they will switch out Yuki for Hadjar or Lawson,\u201d said another. \u201cIt clearly hasn\u2019t worked with Yuki and it\u2019s definitely the car. But new regs, new car, so they might chance a new driver in the second seat. <\/p>\n TEAMDRIVER 1DRIVER 2AlpinePierre GaslyN\/AAston MartinFernando AlonsoLance StrollAudiGabriel BortoletoNico HulkenbergCadillacN\/AN\/AFerrariCharles LeclercLewis HamiltonHaasEsteban OconOliver BearmanMcLarenLando NorrisOscar PiastriMercedesN\/AN\/ARacing BullsN\/AN\/ARed Bull RacingMax VerstappenN\/AWilliamsAlex AlbonCarlos Sainz2026 confirmed F1 drivers<\/p>\n \u201cFeel bad for Yuki because if that happens, he drops out from F1 altogether. But there\u2019s so much talent knocking on the door.\u201d<\/p>\n One user wrote: \u201cI reckon they\u2019ll do like they did with Lawson. He\u2019ll have a couple races to see how far off Max he is, and if it\u2019s too far, they\u2019ll put Hadjar in and demote Yuki back to RB. <\/p>\n \u201cWell, let\u2019s just hope that the 26 car doesn\u2019t have these obvious fundamental design flaws. It\u2019d be great if all teams\u2019 26 cars were competitive and the races were more like Indycar where literally anyone could win, it would be so much more exciting!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnother said: \u201cI wonder if Yuki will become a test driver for another team and try to re-enter F1?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHadjar to Red Bull. Lindblad to Racing Bulls,\u201d said one fan, while another echoed: \u201cTsunoda will leave the sport next year, Hadjar to Red Bull, a newcomer from F2 to RB\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0Red Bull driver Max Verstappen\u2019s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend<\/a><\/p>\n If Tsunoda is to be dropped by Red Bull, he will likely leave the team\u2019s setup entirely next season. Arvid Lindblad \u2018truly believes\u2019 he will race for Racing Bulls<\/a> in 2026, with the likes of Helmut Marko holding him in high regard.<\/p>\n Cadillac could be an option for Tsunoda<\/a>, with his agent having spoken to the team. However, with several other experienced candidates in the running, his chances of joining for 2026 may be slim, with Tsunoda reportedly having an \u2018almost 0%\u2019 chance<\/a> of staying on the grid.<\/p>\n The arrival of Laurent Mekies could be critical for Tsunoda<\/a> to stay in F1, as the Frenchman knows his talent and trusts him from his time at Racing Bulls. Red Bull fans have begged Mekies to help Tsunoda<\/a>, and he is already setting out to do just that.<\/p>\n Despite finishing a miserable 17th after another Q1 elimination, Tsunoda was closer to Verstappen than ever before. It is an encouraging sign to take into the summer break, but Red Bull will want to see points on the board as they fight for second in the constructors\u2019 championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen has confirmed that he will race for Red Bull in 2026 after weeks of speculation that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[10860,64,63,10114,3352,825,806,805,803,804,946,85,5077],"class_list":["post-47392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-2026-f1-regulations","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-isack-hadjar","tag-liam-lawson","tag-max-verstappen","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sports","tag-yuki-tsunoda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Red](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2228311798-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Jayce Illman\/Getty ImagesF1 fans predict Isack Hadjar will be Max Verstappen\u2019s Red Bull teammate in 2026 <\/p>\n![\"Red](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2227693217-1-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Andrea Diodato\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesWhat Yuki Tsunoda must do to save his F1 career<\/p>\n