The merry-go-round which currently surrounds Red Bull future driver decisions may not yet be over. Sergio Perez admitted he’d thought briefly about retiring, yet the Mexican driver is under contract for another year with the world champions and will sit out his troubled time and take a payoff if he’s replaced.

Liam Lawson will now race alongside team mate Yuki Tsunoda as he did last season when standing in for Ricciardo who was injured in Zandvoort. While the New Zealander and the Japanese drivers started five races together, they only both finished in three of the racers and it was Lawson who had the edge over his senior team mate by 2-1.

Dr. Helmut Marko explained after Red Bull announced the parting of ways with Ricciardo, that Lawson will be evaluated alongside Yuki Tsunoda before his future is decided.

 

 

 

Lawson to be ‘evaluated’

In the end, after long touting Lawson, Marko has explained that ditching Ricciardo was always on the cards. It now affords him the chance to evaluate again ahead of deciding on where to place him for next season. 

“We have a good number of young drivers, that is clear,” the 81 year old Austrian revealed, with F2 leader Isaac Hadjar and the highly promising Arvin Lindblad waiting in the wings for their F1 opportunities.

“We have to look towards the future, and we want to have a comparison. Where does Lawson stand compared [to Yuki Tsunoda]?

“And then for the future, what do the driver pairings look like for both of our teams?”  said Marko. Whilst not specific, there is more than a hint that Lawson will be evaluated against Tsunoda and should he not impress over the remaining six weekends, then Hadjar and Lindblad cold be in, with Lawson and Perez out.

Hamilton throws tantrum, Mercedes apologise

 

 

 

Marko talks up 17 year old driver for next year

Marko had had suggested following Lindblad’s F3 dominance at the British grand Prix, Arvin is a real possibility for one of the Red Bull’s four F1 drives drives from the start of next season, despite him not being old enough until August 2025.

“Arvid Lindblad shone in Formula 3. He was a rookie who went straight from Formula 4 to Formula 3 and won both races. He is only 16 years old and we are delighted that he can now drive in Formula 1 again at 17,” Marko told assembled media.

Lindblad will be 18 years old for 2026 and the FIA agreement to consider certain seventeen year olds would not be necessary.

Red Bull also have the impressive Ayumu Iwasa racing in Japanese Super Formula as Lawson did successfully in 2023. Could it be the two Red Bull teams only have Max Verstappen from their current crop of F1 drivers remaining with the team at the start of 2025.

Alonso hints at his new future

 

 

 

Tsunoda in no man’s land

The performance between Lawson and Tsunoda will be scrutinised by Red Bull between now and December 8th, when the season finale showdown takes place in Abu Dhabi. It would be remarkable if after all the hype surrounding Liam Lawson if he were to fail to match Tsunoda who is now in his fourth season, but should this be the case he could join the Red Bull F1 driver revolving door.

However, should Lawson convincingly outperform Tsunoda he will be the natural choice to fill the seat vacated bye Sergio Perez. The Japanese driver is also not safe despite signing a contract in June to remain with the Red Bull organisation for another season. Yuki won the qualifying head to head 12-6 against the eight time Grand Prix winning Australian driver, although he lost the race day head to head 8-6, but the Japanese driver has scored ten points more than Ricciardo.

Lawson is Yuki’s fourth team mate in as many years having spent two years alongside Pierre Gasly who left for Alpine in 2023. Last year Tsunoda started alongside Dutch driver Nyck de Vries who survived just ten races before Ricciardo was given the drive.

According to Speedcafe, which is closely linked to Dr. Marko, Lawson ‘could find himself alongside Verstappen’ if he ‘impresses’ Red Bull bosses in the next couple of months.

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Lawson faces Austin grid drop

Its inconceivable Sergio Perez can survive for yet another year. His failure to contribute to the Red Bull cause has seen McLaren’s two closely matched drivers overtake Red Bull in the constructors’ championship and now lead by 41 points. Checo has contributed just over 30% of Red Bull’s tally this season and were he as successful as Russell, Piastri or Sainz – who are all second behind their team mates in the title race – Red Bull would be now still ahead of McLaren and the field and be looking at a seventh constructors’ site.

Lawson who will be in the VCARB car next time top in Austin, Texas, will start his full time F1 career on the back foot. Dr. Marko has indicated he will take an engine penalty which will see him penalised with a ten grid slot drop from where he qualifies and so its likely the New Zealander will be near the back of the pack.

Because Lawson is taking over the Ricciardo car, he inherits the list of components used this year by the number three car to date. Yet Red Bull and F1 observers alike will be studying the qualifying form of the pair to see if there’s any early advantage for either driver.

Red Bull appear prepared to perform a complete overhaul on its driver lineup and in the extreme case Perez and Tsunoda could yet join Ricciardo – out of the team – as Marko lines up his exciting lineup of juniors in Iwasa, Hadjar and Arvibn Lindblad.

Marko says Ricciardo has a role at Red Bull

 

 

 

FIA fail again over new F1 calenda

Formula One today is truly a global sport and now with 24 events each year across 52 weeks the pressure is on for all involved to deliver for an extended period of time. This year there will be just over thirteen weeks between the final event of 2024 and the season opener in Melbourne on March 12-14th.

F1 now has another month long break following the Singapore Grand Prix before the first of the last six weekends of the season. When the teams arrive in Austin they are in for a gruelling schedule of three races over consecutive weeks then they take another break of two more weekends before the final triple header which includes Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi (in order).

With six Grand prix in eight weekends, the FIA attempted to sweeten the pill for the FD1 circus by planning the four week break after Singapore. Yet for F1 fans having two one month in season breaks disrupts the routine of life and the schedules families need to plan for… READ MORE