Martin Brundle offers impossible solution to Red Bull second driver problem

There isn’t an easy answer to Red Bull’s second F1 seat problem but Martin Brundle has offered an extreme solution to the team’s driver predicament.

Red Bull backed themselves into a corner with the signing of Max Verstappen. On the one hand, they possess a talent who can still fight for the world title in a sub-par car and boast one of the best drivers to ever grace the sport.

The downside of securing the services of such a talent however, is that any other driver in the same car pales in comparison. Thus, over the past five years, Red Bull have endlessly recycled their best and brightest from their junior ranks, ending careers and destroying reputations in the process.

Nearly a year on from Sergio Perez's axe, the team once again find themselves deliberating over the futures of Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, a decision that will have broader repercussions over all three drivers' entire racing careers.

Even team principal Laurent Mekies has described the ongoing second seat saga a ‘distraction’ from the championship; but is this constant merry-go-round of Red Bull drivers starting to hinder the team?

What is Red Bull’s second driver solution?

Red Bull’s second seat is an unavoidable problem. It needs to be addressed sooner or later, because every team needs two drivers…unless they don’t?

During an appearance on the Sky Sports F1 podcast after the Mexican GP, Brundle weighed in on Red Bull’s driver conundrum and offered an interesting, if impossible, solution to their woes.

“I think if regulations allow, Red Bull should run a one-car team and have three drivers in the Racing Bulls because anybody who sits alongside Max gets their head scrambled pretty rapidly for a number of reasons, basically because he’s so fast and so good,” Brundle explained.

Okay. It is unlikely Brundle was actually being deadly serious here, but is there really a better solution with Red Bull’s current options?

The pundit then continued to assess the drivers at the team’s disposal for next year, and added: “I think Yuki’s had his chances to be honest, obviously Honda are moving away from Red Bull as well with that Japanese link, I think you’ve got to look to the future.

“The problem is for next year there’s such a dramatic change, the biggest ever in the history of Formula 1 with the power units and the chassis, you want the experience, you want knowledge.

“I think Lawson’s showing some potential and some upside, Hadjar definitely, ideally I don’t think you want to put Hadjar up into the main team, I think he needs another year.

“Lindblad’s looking really good but does he need a bit more experience? It’s a gamble and they’ll say ‘we refer you to Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel’ when we put young guys in and if they’re good enough they can handle it.

“I suspect it’s a heavy discussion as to whether they're going to take the risk on Hadjar in the main team and Lindblad in the Racing Bulls.”

Brundle raises some interesting points, but maybe Red Bull’s problem is that they keep looking towards youth. Wouldn’t it have been more ambitious during the 2024 silly season to go after bigger names and talents in the sport, who are proven race winners. The likes of Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso spring to mind.

For the second year in a row, Red Bull face concluding their season with uncertainty over their driver lineup. This instability is unbefitting of a top F1 team and there are no more excuses to keep repeating this same pattern.

It is time for Red Bull to break the F1 driver mould entirely next year, it simply cannot continue as it has done.

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