F1 2026: Red Bull are set to AXE one of their drivers and here's the proof

Red Bull

Red Bull are set to AXE one of their drivers and here's the proof

Red Bull and Racing Bulls are the only F1 teams yet to confirm their full driver lineups for 2026.

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Friday 14 November 2025 09:42

With just three rounds left in the 2025 F1 campaign, time is ticking for Red Bull to decide their driver lineups for next season.

As things stand, reigning champion Max Verstappen is the only one in Red Bull's F1 driver pool who actually knows where he will be racing in 2026.

Neither his team-mate or either of the two seats at junior team Racing Bulls have officially been announced yet.

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Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda all face uncertain futures, and whilst Lawson was believed to have been ruled out of another potential Red Bull promotion having tried and failed to succeed there at the start of the season, you can never really rule anyone out when it comes to Red Bull and their driver decisions!

But there is one team who have locked in their driver duo and it is this hidden detail which points to the fact that a decision has already been made concerning the future of junior driver Arvid Lindblad.

Lindblad a free agent for 2026

In 2025, Lindblad has competed in the F2 championship and with two rounds to go, is currently seventh in the drivers' standings.

The 18-year-old has been a Red Bull junior team member since 2021 and has remained firmly on Helmut Marko's radar ever since. In June of this year, the British driver was granted special dispensation by the FIA to be awarded a super licence, which allowed him to take part in F1 practice sessions.

Lindblad has since got behind the wheel of the RB21 in FP1 at his home race at Silverstone, and at last month's Mexican Grand Prix, where he impressed once again by a) not crashing Verstappen's car and b) finishing the session in P6.

This result spelled trouble for Tsunoda who finished two places below him and whose seat was already under threat for next season. Lindblad also finished the practice session in Mexico City above Hadjar, who is realistically his closest competitor for the second Red Bull seat.

But the detail that seems to have escaped many in the debate over who will be Verstappen's team-mate next season is the fact that Lindblad is a free agent as things stand, with no F2 contract to fall back on.

He currently competes in the feeder series with Campos Racing, who have already confirmed their 2026 lineup of Nikola Tsolov and Noel Leon, with Lindblad notably absent.

This essentially confirms that the F2 star will be making the step up to F1 next year, with only his precise destination yet to be decided.

Could Lindblad be hurt by all or nothing approach to F1 promotion?

Whilst Marko may be certain that he wants Lindblad on hand to take the wheel of an F1 car next season, it is still unclear whether the Brit will be handed the opportunity to do so at Racing Bulls or if he'll be trusted to make the immediate jump up to Red Bull.

Many drivers have failed to conquer Red Bull's second seat, with the team now facing the difficult decision over who to trust as Verstappen's team-mate when new regulations come in next year.

Hadjar has certainly impressed in his rookie campaign and is in fact the only other Red Bull driver to have made it onto the podium this year aside from Verstappen.

Yet many feel it would be too soon to promote the 21-year-old, somewhat sabotaging his career.

The junior team's lineup of Hadjar and Lawson has proved much more stable than Red Bull's in 2025, so why throw away a solid junior team just to see if Hadjar could hack it at the main squad?

It could be argued that Red Bull should go all in on their junior driver gamble and throw Lindblad in at the deep end, thus taking a chance on a new talent whilst not jeopardising the consistency of Racing Bulls.

On the other hand, should Laurent Mekies' team feel that they do not wish to take a chance on Lindblad, there is potential for him to be left without a drive in any championship in 2026, having gambled on F1 by throwing away his F2 seat.

F1 2026 DRIVER LINEUP: Who will be Max Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate?

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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F1 Red Bull Racing Bulls F2 Arvid Lindblad Campos Racing