Final audition for Verstappen’s F1 2026 teammate, but only one Red Bull candidate is smiling

Lining up on the grid for the Qatar Grand Prix, the final race before Red Bull announces its F1 2026 drivers, only one of three candidates is smiling.

Red Bull will decide after this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix its line-up for its two Formula 1 teams; Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls.

Who will line up alongside Max Verstappen in F1 2026, and who is out of a job?

And it’s a deadline that is set in stone.

“We will announce our line-up immediately after Qatar,” Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said build-up to the Lusail race.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko stressed this when he spoke with PlanetF1.com and other media outlets at the track, “How often we said we will decide after this weekend, so next week we know.”

The three candidates, fighting over two seats, have one race – tonight’s Qatar Grand Prix – to make their case. Or do they?

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Isack Hadjar, arguably the rookie of the F1 2025 season with his 51 points and Dutch Grand Prix podium given he’s in a lesser car than Kimi Antonelli’s race-winning Mercedes, has hinted that he may already know his fate. And it’s one, that it is understood, will put him in the Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen next season.

Asked if it would be a “relief” for Red Bull to announce it’s decision after Qatar, he said: “So finally, you leave me alone. Bit less questions, or actually maybe even more questions, I don’t know.

“But it’s good to know that it’s going to end soon.

“So I’m very happy, especially with a result like this [P6 in qualifying ahead of his rival candidates]. It’s just cherry on the cake. I’m just enjoying it.”

Told that it’s “not going to be much of a surprise to you”, Hadjar replied with a chuckle: “That’s it, I’m not saying anything.”

But asked by PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher if he’d been given “any indication” as to the decision, it was pointed out that Hadjar was smiling.

The driver quipped to that: “You can’t see that I’m smiling.”

One candidate not smiling was current Red Bull incumbent, Yuki Tsunoda.

Despite beating Verstappen in Sprint qualifying to record his first win over the reigning World Champion in a qualifying session, Tsunoda wasn’t able to follow up on that or even come close in Saturday’s qualifying.

He was eliminated in Q1, although he was just three-tenths down on Verstappen.

Asked about his future, Tsunoda refused to comment.

“I mean, I know you guys want to twist everything, but it’s not decided,” he insisted.

Tipped to lose the Red Bull seat to Hadjar, Tsunoda is in a head-to-head fight with Liam Lawson as to which of the two heads the Racing Bulls charge next season amidst reports Formula 2 driver and Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad will be in the one of the two seats.

Lawson insisted he’s not stressing about that, he’s just focused on Sunday night’s Qatar Grand Prix. A race that could yet be his last in Formula 1.

“Honestly, at this point, with the race, it is not really what we’re thinking about too much,” said the New Zealander.

“I’ve been in this situation plenty of times now to know what it feels like. I guess the decision will come after the weekend, but for now, we have a race.

“Obviously we will all back ourselves, and I think in the good moments this year, we were probably very, very strong. Obviously, there are always things in hindsight you look back on and things you can do better.

“So there are races I would have done things differently, but honestly, overall, I’m pretty happy.”

Pressed on whether he knows the Red Bull decision, he replied: “I don’t know.”

Lawson was not, as PlanetF1.com noted in exclusive photographs, the driver smiling.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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