Hadjar’s Zandvoort podium turns up the volume, but Red Bull won’t be rushed on 2026 call
Isack Hadjar has the paddock buzzing and the grandstands chanting his name, but Red Bull’s leadership is keeping its pulse steady on one of the biggest questions of the 2026 driver market: who partners Max Verstappen.
The Racing Bulls rookie lit up Zandvoort with a career-first Formula 1 podium, the Faenza team’s first since 2021. It wasn’t gifted, either. Hadjar put the car on row two with a best-yet P4 in qualifying, parked it alongside Verstappen, then spent Sunday keeping Ferrari and Mercedes honest. When Lando Norris’ McLaren coughed to a halt late on, Hadjar was exactly where a driver with sharp instincts and a tidy afternoon should be — ready to cash in.
Naturally, the volume swelled on the now-familiar refrain: get him in the Red Bull for 2026. Laurent Mekies wasn’t taking the bait.
“You know, as much as we like the emotion of the race by race feeling – we have a feeling in Budapest, we have another feeling here – the truth is, if you step back, look at it from a Red Bull perspective, it’s our drivers. We have them all under contract,” Mekies said after the Dutch Grand Prix. “It’s only us making the decisions. Us meaning the Red Bull group. Why would you put yourself under pressure based on the results of another?
“Hence, the simple true story is that we will take our time. There is nine races to go. I’m not telling you that we’ll wait until the last race, because also, there is a dynamic by which you want to let your driver know. But we have time.”
Time is a luxury Red Bull can afford when your lead driver is a four-time World Champion and the junior team’s headline act has just announced himself against the sport’s heavy hitters. Hadjar’s case has been building all year; Zandvoort just made it impossible to ignore.
There’s the other half of the equation, too. Yuki Tsunoda is fighting to retain his seat in the Red Bull fold beyond this season and, by extension, his F1 future. He snapped a seven-race scoreless run with ninth place at Zandvoort after a Q2 exit that left him roughly half a second shy of Verstappen. It’s not the kind of deficit that survives long in Red Bull’s world.
“At first, you can always do more, always. We can do more. He can do more, always,” Mekies said of Tsunoda. “He’s doing more and more. We are trying everything we can to support. I think it’s still a positive trend for Yuki. I think it’s his first time back in the points after seven races, I’ve been told.
“Spa was a step forward. Budapest, as much as we were poor as a team, was a step forward in terms of the gap to Max. Today, he’s P9. With a bit more luck in the Safety Car, could have been a P8 or P7, even though the pace is difficult to evaluate.
“I think we just want to see him continue to progress, continue to close the gap to Max. That’s the main priority, and that he continues to score points, because that’s ultimately what it is about.”
Strip away the noise and it’s classic Red Bull doctrine. They’ve got the talent in-house, they control the timelines, and they’re not about to be bounced into a call just because the grandstands are getting loud. Hadjar’s surge, Tsunoda’s response, and how both stack up against the Verstappen reference — that’s the calculus.
What’s undeniable is that Hadjar has shifted the conversation. Zandvoort showcased a driver with pace on Saturday, composure on Sunday, and the knack for being in the right place when the race tilts. That’s the Red Bull profile. Whether it earns him the RB19 successor in 2026 is a decision for later in the year.
For now, nine races remain. Hadjar’s aiming to make the choice feel inevitable. Tsunoda’s trying to make it complicated. And Red Bull, as ever, will make it when they’re ready.
