“The second seat at Red Bull is not an easy one” : Laurent Mekies on whether Yuki Tsunoda will return in F1
Red Bull principal Laurent Mekies addressed the chances of Yuki Tsunoda’s return to F1 in the near future. The Japanese driver will be replaced by Isack Hadjar at Red Bull for the next season. The move was announced in early December, as this leaves Tsunoda without a seat for the 2026 F1 season.
Laurent Mekies stated that Red Bull have a tough car to drive, and they tried everything to support Yuki over the season. The Japanese driver replaced Liam Lawson at Red Bull after just three races into the season. However, he struggled during the course of the season, which sees without a seat for the next season. Mekies hopes Yuki Tsunoda will get another chance in F1, as he stays on with Red Bull as their reserve driver for the next season.
“We have a tough car to drive. And of course, we have tried everything we could to support Yuki. At some stage, we had to make the difficult call between where we were seeing that going for the following years,” said Mekies.
“That’s a setback for him” : Laurent Mekies on Yuki Tsunoda
Laurent Mekies revealed the conversations that took place last winter when Liam Lawson was promoted to Red Bull. He revealed that Yuki Tsunoda was disappointed to have missed out on the promotion, but just three races into the season. he was driving for Red Bull.
“We have been quite famous in making fairly swift driver decisions in the past. I recall one moment — at the end of the 2024 season, Yuki was driving very well. It was very difficult for him to digest. Liam was getting the promotion in Red Bull Racing. He went into the winter thinking, was he going to get the chance one day or not?,” said Mekies.
“He came back, and we set ourselves with the team at the time the objective to maximise everything — to shoot for the stars,” he added.“Three races after, he was driving in that Red Bull team. So you never know what the future holds. I’m sure everyone in this room and beyond has experienced setbacks — sometimes hard setbacks. That’s a setback for him. But I am confident that he has a lot in him that will allow him to have another opportunity.”
Red Bull have had changed their second driver three times over the past one year. It will be interesting to see how Isack Hadjar performs at Red Bull next year, and if he can finally break the Red Bull second seat curse.
