Red Bull now have a ‘favoured’ driver to race alongside Max Verstappen for the 2026 F1 season

Red Bull Racing driver Yuki Tsunoda will be well aware that his results haven’t been up to scratch this season.

Yuki Tsunoda looked like a man with a point to prove after qualifying fifth for Racing Bulls at the opening race in Australia.

He was unlucky not to score points in his first two Grand Prix starts but did get off the mark in the Sprint Race in Shanghai.

However, by the time Tsunoda reached his home race in Japan, he was finally a Red Bull driver after years of trying to earn that promotion.

He failed to score points in Suzuka and while that was initially seen as a one-off, it’s now become a worrying trend.

Red Bull are concerned about Tsunoda’s approach to being Max Verstappen’s teammate and the Spanish Grand Prix was a new low for the 25-year-old.

He qualified last and failed to finish in the top 10 and while Tsunoda is expected to see out the 2025 season, team principal Christian Horner is beginning to consider his options for next year.

The Anglo-Austrian team now have a preferred candidate in Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar, who has leapfrogged Tsunoda after a fantastic start to 2025.

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Isack Hadjar now Red Bull’s ‘favoured’ teammate for Max Verstappen in 2026

Journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm was speaking on The Race F1 Podcast about the future of Red Bull’s driver line-up and explained: “Red Bull’s already changed Max Verstappen’s teammate once this season, but is now starting to think another driver is actually quicker and is next in line to get a chance at the top team in 2026.

“Lawson has been consistently and comprehensively outperformed by F1 rookie Isack Hadjar, who has rapidly climbed the Red Bull pecking order.

“In fact, Hadjar’s been so impressive that alongside Tsunoda struggling to build on a reasonably encouraging start at Red Bull, it’s now the young Frenchman who is emerging as Red Bull’s favoured choice long-term.

“Tsunoda has just seven points from seven Grand Prix and a Sprint Race at Red Bull Racing and in that time, Hadjar has racked up 21 points for Racing Bulls.

“This doesn’t mean that Tsunoda’s suddenly facing the same fate as Lawson, and as we understand it, he is 99% certain to at least finish the 2025 season.

“The 1% of course reflects an unlikely worst-case scenario whereby Tsunoda ends up repeating his Spanish Grand Prix form and qualifies last over and over again.”

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Isack Hadjar warned against early Red Bull Racing promotion

Hadjar has been sensational since his promotion from Formula 2 over the winter and took no time to get over his formation lap shunt on his debut in Melbourne.

Franck Montagny wants Hadjar to turn down a Red Bull promotion but he may struggle to do so if he receives an offer.

All of Red Bull’s drivers are centrally contracted, meaning he could be swapped for Tsunoda at any moment.

David Croft doesn’t think Hadjar is ready for Red Bull but admitted that stylistically he’s the closest driver to Verstappen available to Horner.

He broke into the top 10 of the drivers’ championship after the Spanish Grand Prix after scoring six more points for Racing Bulls.

Karun Chandhok revealed some Mercedes staff were upset that he thought Hadjar was the rookie of the season ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

However, the Italian’s tricky triple-header has coincided with Hadjar going up another level and he’s now scored points in four of his last five races.