'For heaven's sake' - F1 team boss lets loose over Red Bull second seat

Red Bull

'For heaven's sake' - F1 team boss lets loose over Red Bull second seat

An F1 boss has issued a plea to Red Bull

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 17 June 2025 10:57 Updated: 11:18

A F1 team boss has delivered a frantic plea over Red Bull’s second seat as instability surrounds their driver lineup.

Whilst Red Bull have won four world titles with Max Verstappen, the second seat at the team has been a major issue and they have gone through three drivers in the past year with Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda all failing to make the mark.

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All three have failed to finish second directly behind Verstappen at any stage, with their most recent hire Tsunoda only earning seven points in his Red Bull career.

To put that in perspective, Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar is currently above Tsunoda in the drivers’ standings with 21 points in comparison to the Red Bull star’s 10 earned this year.

Hadjar’s impressive results in 2025 have naturally invited conversation about him replacing Tsunoda at Red Bull, but Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer has issued a plea to the main team concerning his driver.

"For heaven's sake, don't take this talent away from us too soon," he said to Bild.

"Let him get to know the whole business until the end of 2026. Until then, we'll just have to handcuff him!"

Should Hadjar race for Red Bull?

Hadjar has only competed in 10 F1 rounds so far, and Red Bull have stated that they want to keep Tsunoda in the second seat until the end of the season to have some consistency in their driver lineup.

The Frenchman also had a disappointing weekend at the Canadian GP where he finished P16, his race weekend undone by a three-place grid penalty for impeding Carlos Sainz in qualifying.

However, Hadjar is not the only young racing star the team are eyeing up, with F2 star Arvid Lindblad also in Red Bull’s sights.

The teenager was recently granted his F1 Super Licence at the age of 17, despite the minimum age being 18, after Red Bull submitted a request for a special exemption, with a promotion to the pinnacle of motorsport potentially on the cards.

Red Bull Max Verstappen FIA Sergio Perez Yuki Tsunoda Liam Lawson