How Laurent Mekies changes Red Bull’s driver situation

Where Tsunoda, Lawson and Hadjar stand

In some respects, Red Bull’s driver dilemma is entirely of their own doing. By promoting the less experienced Lawson for 2025 (only to demote him after two rounds), making evaluations for 2026 is difficult.

Yuki Tsunoda was very much thrown into the deep end. Whilst he was pleased to finally earn a Red Bull seat, he arrived during a very tricky period. A lack of pre-season testing meant the #22 driver had virtually no time to adjust to the RB21.

After his Imola crash, moreover, he spent several weekends without the same floor as Verstappen. This put Tsunoda at a further disadvantage, particularly in the context of such a competitive field.

Lawson, meanwhile, had to bounce back from the psychological blow of being replaced after two races. Inevitably, being demoted mid-season will damage a driver’s market value – fairly or not.

The last few months have exemplified this harsh reality quite clearly. For example, it went almost entirely under the radar that Lawson was beginning to get the better of teammate Isack Hadjar before the summer break.

Lawson finished ahead of his teammate in Austria, Silverstone, Hungary and Spa. Unfortunately for the Kiwi, his reputation was massively impacted by his Red Bull stint – and Hadjar’s Zandvoort podium has seen his market value sky-rocket.

Because of this, Hadjar is in the most comfortable position of Red Bull’s driver pool. His presence on next year’s grid is essentially guaranteed. The question is which team he will drive for.

For Tsunoda and Lawson, the situation is slightly more complicated. They need to end 2025 on a high note, otherwise they put themselves in a very precarious position. However, both drivers still have options.

Tsunoda and Lawson boost their chances in Baku

Red Bull are often reported as having made the decision to promote Isack Hadjar to Red Bull in 2026. This has been denied by the team, who insist they are in no rush to make a commitment.

Currently, Hadjar is still the favourite to partner Verstappen next year. With that said, it should be noted that Laurent Mekies changes the dynamics significantly in this conversation.

Unlike his predecessor Christian Horner, Mekies has always been very complimentary about Tsunoda. The Frenchman even argued at the end of 2024 that Tsunoda was ready to join Red Bull.

Helmut Marko has also consistently defended the 25-year-old in recent months. In short (for the first time in recent memory) Red Bull are not discounting the Japanese driver. The Milton Keynes outfit want to avoid more volatility, so making it work with Tsunoda is the preference.

It goes without saying that Tsunoda needs to be consistently in the top 6 for this to happen. Still, there is a sense that a strong run of races could tip the scales in the 25-year-old’s favour.

For Lawson, a strong end to the year would somewhat dampen the Hadjar enthusiasm. With Arvid Lindblad (Red Bull’s most highly rated junior) only 7th in the Formula 2 standings, Lawson could make it more difficult for Red Bull to justify replacing him.

Lindblad’s promotion into F1 next season is often described as a guarantee, but this is not necessarily the case. If Tsunoda and Lawson end the season strongly, Red Bull might consider keeping the youngster in Formula 2 for 2026.

Mekies praises Tsunoda in Baku

As ever, this scenario is contingent on Lawson delivering and consistently outperforming Hadjar. The good news for the Kiwi is that VCARB are competitive enough to regularly fight for points.

Meanwhile at Red Bull, a floor update in Monza (which Tsunoda received in Baku) has also improved their pace.

Whilst Baku is still something of a unique track, the RB21 is clearly more competitive. Combined with a new approach to set-up introduced by Laurent Mekies, Tsunoda should have better chances of fighting at the front.

Overall, Red Bull’s approach has been far more holistic since Laurent Mekies arrived. The team have given more attention to Tsunoda’s side of the garage, and there is a recognition that constantly changing drivers has not been a real solution.

This also applies to the second team, where the likes of Lawson have seen their development (and the perception of their abilities) impacted by premature promotions.

Speaking post-race, Laurent Mekies spoke very highly of Tsunoda:

“Yuki had a very strong race,” he told Sky Sports. “He was lapping three tenths away from Max. Max had a very very strong day, so it’s great for Yuki.

“He has been fighting a lot for that clean sample. We’ve been talking about it for a while now, and he did a very very clean sample today.”