The Red Bull seat nobody is talking about – and why that's the biggest compliment of all

Let's turn the clock back just over a year, to March 2025 to be precise. The setting is the Shanghai International Circuit, where the second race weekend of the season is taking place. During that weekend, Autosport hears something that initially seems impossible to believe: Red Bull is considering a driver swap between Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda.

The first reaction from myself and my colleagues is one of disbelief. Surely that's completely implausible? How can you replace a driver after just two race weekends? Admittedly, Lawson's first weeks with Red Bull's senior team had been difficult, and in China he even set an unwanted record by becoming the first Red Bull driver ever to qualify on the last row of the grid twice in the same weekend, qualifying dead last for the grand prix itself.

Even so, making a driver change that early in the season seems almost unthinkable. But after checking with multiple sources in the paddock, it turns out to be true. Not long after the Chinese Grand Prix, the story is published on Red Bull is pushing ahead with a driver swap and plans to put Yuki Tsunoda in the RB21 as early as Suzuka. And that is exactly what happens in the days that follow.

Unfortunately, despite all of his enthusiasm, the Japanese driver is also unable to leave a lasting impression at Red Bull. As a result, stories about another possible driver change for the 2026 season begin circulating even before the summer break. Once Hadjar secures his first F1 podium at Zandvoort, the Frenchman can no longer be ignored and the picture becomes crystal clear – also for Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko.

Although the swap after China was extreme even by Red Bull's standards, it was symbolic of what had been happening to the team's second seat for years. Before Lawson and Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon and eventually Sergio Perez had all fallen victim to it. In other words, the seat alongside Verstappen had become a genuine headache for the team.

Until 2026.

Lawson and Tsunoda were the two latest failures in the Red Bull second seat across 2025

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

This year, Hadjar has succeeded in breaking that trend. He had already hinted at it last year. When talk of his promotion to Red Bull began to emerge and he was asked about it every Thursday on media day, the Frenchman dealt with those questions with remarkable confidence.
"2026 is a different question because it's a brand-new start for the team," Hadjar said at Monza last year, for example. "There won't be this talk of the second car thing. This wouldn't be a thing anymore, because it's a brand-new car for everyone." Asked by Autosport whether that would make promotion to Red Bull easier, he replied confidently: "Way easier."

At the time, those comments were compared to the confidence with which his predecessors had also arrived at Red Bull, only to fail. The assumption was that Hadjar's Red Bull adventure would end in exactly the same way.

Halfway through the season, however, Hadjar has so far proved the opposite. His words have not turned out to be empty bravado, but reality. On average, Hadjar is only a few tenths slower than Verstappen in qualifying, and he has also delivered something else Red Bull had been desperately searching for: stepping up whenever Verstappen is absent from the front.

Everybody in the paddock is talking about one Red Bull seat, but not about the position that has been under the greatest pressure over the past few years

It started immediately in Australia, where Verstappen crashed out in Q1 but Hadjar rescued the day for the team by claiming an impressive third place on the grid. Something similar happened in Monaco, where Verstappen retired early but Hadjar ultimately stood on the podium. Although he later had to hand the trophy over to Gasly, that does little to diminish Hadjar’s own performance.

He made a clumsy mistake in Miami – perhaps his only one so far – but aside from that and his engine-related retirement in Melbourne, Hadjar has finished every race inside the top eight. That is exactly what Red Bull wants to see from its second driver: consistently finishing among the top eight, in other words alongside the four leading teams, while also stepping up whenever Verstappen is not fighting at the front.

Hadjar's best performance in Red Bull colours so far came at Spa-Francorchamps. After an engine change and the accompanying grid penalty, he had to start from 21st place on the grid but drove an excellent race to finish sixth. On older tyres, he even managed to keep reigning world champion Lando Norris behind him, earning high praise from team principal Laurent Mekies: "I think it is his best race with us, no question. And it's not only a spike. It's been just a little bit better every single race in terms of his speed. So he's bringing some speed every time he's driving. Today is another step.

Mekies called the Belgian GP Hadjar's best Red Bull race so far as he went from 21st to sixth

Photo by: Pauline Ballet / Formula 1 via Getty Images

"In fact, this weekend is another step because he was very, very fast from FP1. And yes, we've put him on a slightly unusual strategy, which in the end, with the timing of the VSC, also offered him the possibility to beat Lando. So it was good. He was very, very strong. His pace was top three pace. So we're very, very happy with his progress."

It means everybody in the paddock is talking about one Red Bull seat, but not about the position that has been under the greatest pressure over the past few years. And the fact that nobody is questioning Hadjar's place is the biggest compliment he could possibly receive right now.

Officially, the Frenchman has not yet been guaranteed a seat for next year. But based on his performances so far, it would take a remarkable turn of events for him not to remain in the Red Bull car next season, regardless of who lines up alongside him.

Whatever happens with Verstappen, Hadjar's future at Red Bull looks assured

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images