Red Bull disagreement delays Yuki Tsunoda 2026 verdict

Laurent Mekies makes the difference for Yuki Tsunoda

Before joining Red Bull at this year’s Japanese GP, Yuki Tsunoda spent several years as VCARB’s number one driver.

In Pierre Gasly’s final year with the team, 2022, Tsunoda was already performing at a similar level to his more experienced teammate. He built upon this in 2023, when he comprehensively dispatched of Nyck de Vries.

The 25-year-old was similarly impressive in 2024, outscoring both Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson. Partly because of this, Red Bull’s decision to promote Lawson for the 2025 season was met with immense criticism.

Of course, this judgement was made by Christian Horner – who was always a relative sceptic of Tsunoda’s abilities.

The same cannot be said of Laurent Mekies, who was team principal at Racing Bulls when Tsunoda was securing the majority of their points. Ironically, Mekies argued at the end of 2024 that the Japanese driver was ready to join the main team.

With this in mind, it is hardly a surprise that Red Bull’s new team principal is unwilling to discard Tsunoda. The Japanese driver’s campaign, for several reasons, has been plagued with inconsistency.

A key reason for this is Red Bull prioritising Verstappen with the RRB21’s upgrades and development programme. Whilst this is obviously an understandable approach, it meant that last weekend’s Mexican GP was the first time in months that Tsunoda ran the same specification as his teammate.

In this context, Mekies believes that Tsunoda – with the same components as Verstappen – can end the year strongly.

Mekies even described Mexico as the #22 car’s best race this season, pointing to Tsunoda only being two tenths slower than Verstappen in clean air. The Frenchman also admitted that Red Bull sacrificed Tsunoda’s race – keeping him out on dead tyres – to help Verstappen’s chances of securing a podium.

The 48-year-old’s willingness to concede when Tsunoda has been compromised shows a clear shift in Red Bull’s approach.

Under their new leadership, there is a more reluctance attitude to swapping and replacing drivers. After all, this cut-throat and impatient approach has seen every driver since Daniel Ricciardo struggle against Verstappen.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Red Bull reached out to Alex Albon for a 2025 season. Since being replaced at Milton Keynes, the Thai driver has excelled in a far more stable Williams environment – a lesson that Red Bull want to learn from.

As a result, Laurent Mekies is not writing off Tsunoda, and believes he can end the season strongly. This would justify keeping the 25-year-old at Milton Keynes, or at the very least make him a logical benchmark to put alongside Arvid Lindblad.

Arvid Lindblad likely to join VCARB

Speaking of Lindblad, the 18-year-old is expected to make his F1 debut next season with Red Bull. Lindblad’s rapid ascent has pressed Red Bull into making big decisions for 2026.

Of course, there is still a scenario where Lindblad spends another year in Formula 2. Were this to happen, it would mean that Red Bull and VCARB could keep the same line-ups for next season.

Next year would then become a chance to make changes for 2027 with a more comprehensive sample size. However, the consensus is that Lindblad will take the jump next season. This means that Tsunoda and Lawson are driving for their F1 careers.

Hadjar will almost certainly be in Formula 1 next season, it is only a matter of who he drives for. According to f1-gate, Helmut Marko wants to see the Frenchman at Red Bull next season.

Laurent Mekies is understood to have a different perspective. The team principal prefers to give Tsunoda an opportunity to cement his place. Amidst this debate, there is still great uncertainty over Liam Lawson’s future.

The Kiwi is not being considered for a Red Bull seat, and so his only F1 lifeline for 2026 is at VCARB. With that said, a seat with the Faenza team is not guaranteed.

Even if Red Bull promote Hadjar alongside Verstappen, the Austrian team still need to decide who would be a better benchmark for Lindblad. Given that Tsunoda was comfortably faster than Hadjar when they were teammates – whilst Lawson has been a step behind the Frenchman – Lawson needs a strong end to the season to justify his position.