Red Bull executive director Helmut Marko has multiple driver decisions to make for the 2025 season. They’re the only team yet to finalise their plans ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi next week.
Most importantly, Red Bull must choose a teammate for Max Verstappen. There will be a summit after the Abu Dhabi GP to decide whether Sergio Perez should keep his seat.
If they opt to make a change, Liam Lawson will be the favourite. The team haven’t explicitly ruled out his RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda, but that looks unlikely.
Indeed, Franco Colapinto may be ahead of Tsunoda in the queue. Alpine are also interested in Colapinto, but Red Bull have agreed a deal with Williams in principle.
If a deal goes through, he would most likely slot into RB, but he could even jump straight up to the top team. That would just leave Red Bull needing a reserve driver.
Academy driver Isack Hadjar would be the obvious candidate. But Hadjar may have blown his RB chances with a costly mistake in the F2 Sprint race in Qatar on Saturday.
Ted Kravitz baffled at Helmut Marko’s stance on Valtteri Bottas
One vastly experienced driver is available as a reserve in the form of Valtteri Bottas. Bottas has lost his Sauber seat for 2025 after moves for Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.
The Finn has competed in nearly 250 races and racked up 10 wins, 20 poles and 67 podiums. But he says he won’t be joining Red Bull because unnamed individuals at Milton Keynes ‘don’t like’ him (via Autosport).
Ted Kravitz’s understanding is that Bottas is referring to Marko. But he can’t understand why the Austrian is so opposed, suggesting that the 35-year-old is the ‘most likeable’ driver in F1.
“Come on Helmut,” he said on Ted’s Notebook. “How can you hate Valtteri Bottas? He’s probably the most likeable man on planet Earth!”
What has Helmut Marko said about Valtteri Bottas?
Bottas used to race for Mercedes, who were involved in a bitter rivalry with Red Bull during the 2021 season. Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton scrapped for the title that year, with Perez and Bottas playing support roles.
There may be some lasting ill-feeling from that campaign. Speaking to German outlet sport.de in the autumn, Marko said it would be ‘incomprehensible’ if Bottas retained his drive at the expense of Mick Schumacher, another who was on the shortlist.
With Schumacher moving on, Bottas is set to return to Mercedes as their third driver from next year. He will support George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.
Bottas rejected an offer from IndyCar so he could stay in the F1 paddock. That will ensure he remains in the driver market conversation for 2026.
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