The curse of Verstappen’s team mate bites RBR back = Since the arrival of Max Verstappen at Red Bull Racing in 2016, the management have struggled to find him an appropriate team mate. Daniel Ricciardo, the lead driver on Verstappen’s accession, made a good fist alongside the Dutchman – beating him in two of the three seasons they raced together.
Yet this was a young Max Verstappen, still learning his trade. Following Ricciardo’s departure to Renault for 2019, Red Bull promoted their junior academy driver Pierre Gasly, yet the Frenchman survived just eleven race weekend before being demoted to Toro Rosso from where he came.
Alex Albon came and went without solving the Red Bull second seat issues, before Sergio Perez was offered his opportunity in F1’s hot seat. As with any driver joining a new team, Perez took a few weekends to settle in but he sooner joined the race to help his team mate win their first constructors’ title since 2013. Red Bull fell short of this ambition, but from a titanic struggle all year with Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen came out victorious with his maiden F1 drivers’ championship.
Red Bull worst place since 2015
Perez delivered Red Bull’s first ever 1-2 in the drivers championship, during the record season of 2023. Yet an upgrade in Imola last year appeared to confuse the Mexican driver who for the rest of the year struggled to even make the top ten shootouts on Saturday afternoons. The Red Bull philosophy of keeping their star driver Max Verstappen happy and in a car he can drive quickly continued this year.
Yet the team mate conundrum is now as worse as its ever been for Red Bull. If we consider Pierre Gasly’s eight scoring finishes from eleven starts alongside Max in 2019 compare with just three from Yuki Tsunoda since he replaced Liam Lawson. Indeed the final full season for Alex Albon before he was dropped by Red Bull, saw the British-Thai driver only fail to score across five weekends of the year.
Red Bull now fourth in the constructors’ title race this year are in their worse position since the anus hornbills back in 2015. Prior to that we have to go back to 2008 when the team was still in its early years of competition to find Red Bull placed lower than three other rivals.
Of course since the team were placed fourth come the end of July, they will receive incremental wind tunnel time and extra CFD items for the next sixth months as they prepare for the big 2026 regulation changes. Yet their hope of recovering over the remainder of the season is fading, given they are now 47 points behind Mercedes and another further behind Ferrari.
Second seat influences Max release clause
The message from Milton Keynes this year has been, their focus is on delivering a record fifth consecutive title for Max Verstappen. But even he is now dismissing his chances in the title race, finding himself some 61 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri after being taken to in Austria.
Yet the desperate ditching of Liam Lawson after just two race weekends, suggests Red Bull are desperate to improve their position as a team – and not a one man wonder. It could be an exist clause for Verstappen exists if the team are placed lower than third. In terms of ‘will he stay of will he go’ concerning the world champion, the die is now cast.
Being third in the drivers title race will not be enough to activate a release clause for Max. Any team can hit a rich vein of form across a season and so the clue would allow for two drivers being ahead of Verstappen at this stage. Yet it is the failure failure of his team mates this season and Red Bull’s lowly P4, which may have created the opportunity for the Dutch driver to look elsewhere.
The shards of carbon fibre strewn across the Red Bull Ring circuit at turn three, following the torpedoing of Verstappen by Mercedes’ rookie Kimi Antonelli on lap one, almost seemed to represent the state of Verstappen’s hopes for a fifth consecutive F1 drivers’ title. Dr. Marko was quick to comment after Verstappen’s first failure to score in 31 Grand Prix saying after the chequered flag: “I assume people will use a race like this to stir things up,” the Austrian told assembled press.
Marko now adamant Verstappen remains
“But again: Verstappen has a contract through 2028. Like all top drivers, there are performance-based exit clauses – but as things currently stand, there is absolutely no reason that this contract won’t be fulfilled,” he declared adamantly. With such a massive change in F1 car design regulations and brand new power units, a number of the current teams could create a shock next year, as did brawn GP in 2009.
Verstappen jumping ship before knowing the lie of the land for the next four seasons would be stupidity and for that reason alone he will almost certainly remain with Red Bull Racing. There was another interesting shift in the F1 force in Austria, in that Dr Marko dropped his polemic suggesting Hadjar may be soon to replace Yuki Tsunoda.
When asked about the problematic second seat at Red Bull, the good doctor replied: “A driver change doesn’t make sense,” Marko told Sky DE, before reflecting the switch between Lawson and Tsunoda was necessary. “Absolutely, because Lawson was also completely exhausted.
“He needed a few races to recover, now he has defended a sixth place brilliantly against Fernando Alonso with a one-stopper. I think he would not have stayed on his feet next to Max either.” Marko even goes on to suggests that Tsunoda’s struggles are most apparent when the pressure is on.
Red Bull to back Tsunoda regardless
“Yuki lacks self-confidence,” added Marko. “We have to think about how we can stabilise him so that he performs throughout the weekend, which he partly shows in free practice. He had that dangerous crash in Imola. It is now a sum of negative events, but the speed is there. We see that in the practice sessions, but when the pressure is on, that changes.”
It could be argued that Red Bull have nothing to lose by replacing Tsunoda, given his record in the nine Grand Prix he has raced as Verstappen’s team mate have seen the Japanese driver claim just seven points and also he has been eliminated in the first qualifying session on three of the last five occasions. This record is far worse than all the failed number two’s who have gone before him, making Gasly and Albon’s contribution look positively Stella.
Red Bull may be maxing out the last car design influenced by Adrian Newey, knowing full well that well the real job in hand is ensuring their own position of dominance as a new era of F1 cars and power units begins.
Leclerc extreme lift and coast instructions
Ferrari scored their best result of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton in fourth and Charles Leclerc on the final step of the podium. Yet post race the inevitable theme emerged about the future of team boss Fred Vasseur, who had mysteriously left the race weekend after qualifying on Saturday.
An obituary for his mother has now appeared on reddit, which explains the personal reasons cited by the Scuderia for the sudden absence of their team principal. Leclerc had taken advantage of the yellow flag late in the final session of qualifying, which meant neither Oscar Piastri nor Max Verstappen could complete their final push for positions on the grid.
With the Monegasque starting in P2 and championship leader Piastri one place further back, the game afoot was to keep the McLaren driver behind at the start for as long as possible. Yet as the lights went out, the fast starting Leclerc looked to the inside of turn one to make his move for the lead. Lando Norris spotted this and blocked the Ferrari driver, inadvertently allowing his team mate to make a move around the outside of the first corner to take the place immediately from the Ferrari man…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
