Verstappen may not be in contention for the drivers\u2019 championship<\/a>, but he\u2019s managed to nick two victories off McLaren this year and looks good to finish third behind Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris despite Red Bull\u2019s<\/a> struggles.<\/p>\n Those struggles have been typified by what\u2019s happening on the other side of the garage.<\/p>\n Yuki Tsunoda<\/a> is averaging less than one point per race weekend since his Racing Bulls promotion, leaving him very vulnerable to being replaced.<\/p>\n Isack Hadjar has emerged as Red Bull\u2019s favoured candidate to replace Tsunoda<\/a>, but that doesn\u2019t mean that a deal has necessarily been confirmed.<\/p>\n Journalist Chris Medland believes that Red Bull still haven\u2019t \u2018totally\u2019 ruled out a return for Liam Lawson<\/a> after a recent upturn in form.<\/p>\n The New Zealander, who has five DNFs to his name throughout his F1 career, was unfortunate to miss out on points at the Dutch Grand Prix<\/a> after scuffling with Carlos Sainz.<\/p>\n It would have been a worthy reward for his form over the past few races where he\u2019s got the better of Hadjar after a slow start following his Red Bull demotion.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Who is Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 driver Liam Lawson? Age, nationality, stats and more<\/a><\/p>\n Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 309 2 275 3 205 4 184 5 151 6 109 7 64 8 64 9 37 10 37 11 32 12 30 13 28 14 20 15 20 16 16 Liam Lawson is not \u2018totally out of the frame\u2019 for 2026 Red Bull return<\/p>\n Medland was speaking on the Pit Pass F1 Podcast and talking about the Red Bull driver conundrum, he said: \u201cI think this will be the weekend that counts as the really big one for Isack Hadjar this season as well.<\/p>\n \u201cHis rookie campaign has been very impressive ever since Melbourne, where he crashed on the formation lap in the wet, and didn\u2019t even start his first Grand Prix.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, he admitted then that in his head that his life was over because of the mistake he\u2019d made, and he hadn\u2019t got to start that race.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he\u2019s gone from there to feeling like he\u2019s over the move, because he finished third today and got his first podium, and it was a brilliant performance.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people are now linking Hadjar with the Red Bull seat next year.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s certainly a chance he could get in there, that\u2019s a seat that is open, but I still think there\u2019s a long way to go and Red Bull will leave it late to make that decision and will not want to make the same mistakes it made in the past of burning good, young talents.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, Liam Lawson, I don\u2019t think he is totally out of the frame of going back up there.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was actually having a solid day too before a collision with Carlos Sainz, which gave him a puncture and took him out of the running for points.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Red](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2233028964-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Jayce Illman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Racing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2231875334-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Jakub Porzycki\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n