{"id":162373,"date":"2025-12-01T08:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T08:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/162373\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T08:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T08:11:07","slug":"major-red-bull-update-with-f1-2026-driver-announcement-timeline-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/162373\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Red Bull update with F1 2026 driver announcement timeline confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fates of Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson, and Yuki Tsunoda are set to be clarified on Tuesday, with Red Bull expected to confirm its F1 2026 lineup.<\/p>\n

Three of Red Bull\u2019s four seats, across Red Bull and Racing Bulls, remain unconfirmed amid intense speculation as to who will fill each vacancy.<\/p>\n

Red Bull poised to announce 2026 F1 driver lineups<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen remains under contract, though the identity of who will partner him in F1 2026 has not been formally announced.<\/p>\n

In speaking with PlanetF1.com and other accredited media in the wake of the Qatar Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies outlined the timeline for the F1 2026 announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can tell you is that we will, in fact, stick to our plan, and we will announce on Tuesday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident it will not disturb the focus in Abu Dhabi.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is widely expected that Hadjar will be given the nod, the Frenchman letting slip over the Qatar Grand Prix that he knew his future.<\/p>\n

While unwilling to reveal further detail, his broad smile and demeanour strongly suggest a promotion is on the cards after an impressive rookie campaign.<\/p>\n

Such a move creates a vacancy at Racing Bulls while also displacing Tsunoda, who has been with Red Bull Racing since Round 2 of the 2025 F1 season.<\/p>\n

More on Red Bull\u2019s driver dilemma<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Final audition for Verstappen\u2019s F1 2026 teammate, but only one Red Bull candidate is smiling<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Marko issues latest Tsunoda future update after major Red Bull breakthrough<\/a><\/p>\n

Promoted in place of Lawson, who struggled in Australia and China before being dropped to Racing Bulls, Tsunoda has also failed to shine.<\/p>\n

There have been improved results of late, including a fourth in the Qatar Sprint, but it\u2019s generally regarded as being too little, too late.<\/p>\n

However, he remains a consideration for a return to Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n

The makeup of the second Red Bull team is far less clear, with Tsunoda, Lawson, and F2 racer Arvid Linblad all contenders for the two seats.<\/p>\n

One will miss out, with the trio of drivers understood to have met with Red Bull\u2019s driver tsar Helmut Marko over the Qatar weekend to learn their fate.<\/p>\n

That proved a closely guarded secret, with no clarity between whether it will be Lawson or Tsunoda who will be retained.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a state of affairs reminiscent of a year ago, when the duo were in contention for the drive alongside Verstappen.<\/p>\n

In that instance, Lawson got the initial nod before being bumped by Tsunoda early into the current campaign.<\/p>\n

A year on, they\u2019re now rivals for a drive with Racing Bulls, with 18-year-old Lindblad seemingly a certainty in the other car.<\/p>\n

The outcome of Tuesday\u2019s announcement likely marks the end \u2013 at least for now \u2013 of one driver\u2019s F1 career.<\/p>\n

Read next:\u00a0Verstappen lands \u2018another one\u2019 McLaren quip after Qatar GP strategy error<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fates of Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson, and Yuki Tsunoda are set to be clarified on Tuesday, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1463,20115,5704,111,43,139,69,10903,20114,12362,213,11108],"class_list":{"0":"post-162373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-home-page","9":"tag-isack-hadjar","10":"tag-liam-lawson","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-popular","16":"tag-racing-bulls","17":"tag-red-bull","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-yuki-tsunoda"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}