Yuki Tsunoda, Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson react to latest speculation regarding second Red Bull F1 seat, with Alan Permane and Laurent Mekies adding their thoughts.
In the lead-up to the weekend in Baku, reports linked Hadjar to be making the step up in 2026 to Red Bull alongside Verstappen. It put both Tsunoda and Lawson in some spot of danger, with Arvid Lindblad also linked to a move to F1 after completing his racing time in F2.
With Tsunoda already having gone through years at Visa Cash App RB, in natural terms, it would be unlikely for him to return to the F1 team. The most likely scenario if Hadjar moves up to Red Bull, would be to pair Lindblad alongside Lawson to retain its rookie and experience combination.
For now, Tsunoda is not paying attention to the reports and trying to do his as much as possible. He made a step in Baku and hopes to continue with the momentum, but he doesn’t have a lot of races at hand, with a decision likely to be taken after Mexico but before Abu Dhabi.
He is not thinking if he is confident or not, but just going along with the flow. Meanwhile, Hadjar acknowledged that he had idea about his F1 future, but he didn’t spill or was 100% certain about it. Naturally, if there is no signature on a piece of paper, it is not official anyways.
Lawson, meanwhile, alerted about the toughness of being in Red Bull alongside Verstappen, when asked how it is. On his own future, it was similar to Tsunoda as he is also just thinking about performing. Like the Japanese driver, he had a good one in Baku to register career best F1 result.
The problem of better is good as per Red Bull boss Mekies, but he cautioned that the decision will be done before Abu Dhabi and so there are not many races left. Visa Cash App RB chief Permane had praise for all the three drivers, but didn’t wish to spill on what the outcome will be.
Fresh speculation about Hadjar to Red Bull –
Tsunoda: “I think it’s the same as what I said previously. I heard there was a lot of speculation but I was not really watching the media or paying attention. What I understood is that there is a tough one. I just keep doing the things I am doing so far. I keep focusing on performance and showing the progress every races. That’s it. It’s my main priority to stay here. That’s it.”
Hadjar: “No, I have an idea, but I don’t know. I don’t care. I had 5 days off at home [before Baku], I had other things to do than scrolling on Instagram.”
Lawson: “Honestly, from the outside we all look in and see… It’s a very tough place to be. For me it’s hard to look back on and have a proper comparison, just because it was just the two races, but I think: just to prepare well. I tried to do everything I could. Obviously we can always do things better, when we look back on it. I would say ignore everything that’s being said. I think it’s maybe overtalked how difficult it is. At the end of the day, we’re all racing drivers—we have to have enough self-confidence to be in the sport.
“We don’t come here thinking other people are better than us; otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. I think to just have faith in yourself. He’s done a good job this year. If that’s the case, just focus on the job, prepare the best you can, and don’t listen to everything that’s said about what it’s going to be like. Nobody actually knows, only the guys that have done it.”
Permane: “So of course, the first strength is he’s incredibly quick — and without that, all the other strengths are kind of insignificant, really. He’s got the speed, which we’ve seen. One thing I like about him is he’s ready to listen, he’s ready to accept advice and help. He doesn’t want to do everything his own way. He knows… what has he done now, 15 races? Maybe 16? I’m not sure. Sixteen. So he’s happy to accept advice and input from others and take that on board and learn from it. We can see sometimes he’s a little bit harsh on himself, which he’s working on, I think. But strength-wise, I think that’s the main takeaway is that he’s happy to learn.
“I think that’s a tricky one at this time of year. And, fortunately, we don’t have to make that decision at this time of year. I’m very sure — and I think it’s been said — that it will be later in the season, much later in the season. I think what we have to do for Isack is to make sure that we — the trackside team — deliver perfection for him. So he’s got a car he can perform well in, and he needs to perform well. He needs to deliver perfection as well. And I think we’ve seen, when he does that and when the car is right and suits the circuit, and he puts it all together, we can have a super strong weekend.”
What needs to be done, if Racing Bulls an option, future –
Tsunoda: “I’m not really thinking much about the future, to be honest yet. I mean, every race is crucial in these moments, that’s true. I just keep delivering the results and showing some brightness in every race. And yeah, let them decide what they want to do. With the Racing Bulls, I don’t know what’s going to happen next year. The only thing I’m thinking about is to stay in Red Bull for next year, so I’m not really thinking much about the situation when I’m going back with Racing Bulls or whatever.
“If that happens, I’ll think about that. It’s a team that I was staying there for a long time. I know the people, but at the same time, I moved on already to a new chapter. So far, it probably looks like a difficult moment, but it’s given me a lot of progress as a human and as a driver. These kinds of challenges are things that you can’t really experience. I like myself fighting against them, trying to make it work. And yeah, it’s good.”
Lawson: “Hopefully in the next few races. It’s obviously hard to know. We’re all chasing the dream. The first goal is getting into F1, but we’re all here to try and win. I spent a long time, especially joining [Red Bull] as a junior at 17, just looking at how to get to Red Bull Racing—that was where I saw my future. Maybe… Not that I forgot why I do it, but that was so much of the goal. It’s easier now to sit back and realize the goal has always been winning and getting to the top, and it doesn’t need to be specific to where that is.”
Confident to stay on, options –
Tsunoda: “How confident? I don’t know, but just to keep believing in myself in these moments, it’s only, I know what I can do, what I can deliver, so I don’t know the confidence things, how much I can stay or whatever, but just keep fighting against the people, and just try to improve myself as much as possible, and yeah, that’s it. I don’t know how much confidence I have, how much confidence I can stay next year, but it’s the only thing I can control, so I’m just only focused on that. Secondly, with that 2026 car, I wouldn’t say this car is built for Max, it’s just the only thing, he drove this car a long time.
“And I just drove this car this year, in middle of a season, so I think first of all, he’s an incredible driver, but second thing is just he knows what he can deliver from each setup, which is good. So, yeah, I mean, probably when the regulation changes, maybe he’s got a new driving style, and maybe every picture is going to be different, but yeah, I’ll see once I’ll be in that situation and drive with this car, drive with this team’s car, yeah.”
Lawson: “As drivers, the main thing for us is to be in Formula 1, so we’re focused on securing a seat. Honestly, that’s my goal at the moment. In terms of other teams, I think pretty much everyone is either locked in or has a pretty good idea of what they’re doing next year anyway. Right now, it’s mostly talks with Red Bull and trying to secure a seat where I am at the moment. Beyond that, I think it’s at a point where most of them [other seats] are pretty much gone, I would say.”
Lawson’s situation, Tsunoda as well –
Permane: “I think the same as Isack, the same as all other 19 drivers are trying to do — execute perfect race weekends. No one’s going to be bringing any more upgrades — or I doubt very much anyone’s bringing any more upgrades this weekend. So we’ve got what we’ve got at the track. We’ve got the car that we’ve got. So it’s for him and his engineers — and the support we have back from the UK and Faenza in Italy — to deliver as close to a perfect car as we can for him. And he needs to deliver perfect race weekends. As for Yuki, his speed, for one thing.
“I didn’t know Yuki at all before I started with the team in ’24, and I was immediately impressed by him — by his pace, by how he can handle the tyres, his qualifying pace, how he could get on top of the tyres as quickly as he did to extract the most out of the car in qualifying. That was the very first thing that surprised me. And honestly, his feedback, and the way he is in the car, the way he drives, the way he’s out of the car — are really in line with the top drivers. He’s a great driver. And honestly, that was a little bit of a — let’s say — it was a surprise. I guess I hadn’t thought about it, but it was a nice surprise when I got to start working with him.”
Good performance makes it tough –
Mekies: “It’s good news for us. It’s good news. That’s what we wish that our drivers have performed. And it’s good news to see you keeping up. You deserve it. It’s why you see us relaxed about it. Because we have time, why would we rush? Because speed doesn’t disappear. Drivers make progress. And it’s such a confidence business. And you see the confidence of Yuki in Baku was certainly high up. And he did very, very strongly. So we have more time. As we said, we will not wait until Abu Dhabi. But we have a few more races for sure.”
Here’s Max Verstappen winning GT3 race
Here’s Yuki Tsunoda on better Baku
Here’s Isack Hadjar on Williams
Here’s Liam Lawson on battling Yuki Tsunoda
Here’s Max Verstappen on dominant Baku
