Mekies - Red Bull 'famous' for snap driver changes

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has admitted that his F1 squad have become 'famous' for making snap driver changes.

The energy drink giants may be heading into the winter break but that does not mean they will be taking it easy over the coming months.

There is a major regulations change on the horizon and Red Bull have a new driver in the form of Isack Hadjar who will need all the help he can get to acclimatise to the Red Bull environment.

Hadjar is the third driver in a year that Red Bull have plucked from junior team Racing Bulls to try his hand at the infamously tricky second seat, an issue that Mekies appears acutely aware of.

Speaking in the FIA team principals press conference ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Mekies reflected on the team's decision to drop Yuki Tsunoda in favour of Hadjar, saying: “It has been a very difficult decision to take.

"The second seat in Oracle Red Bull Racing is not an easy one. We have a tough car to drive. And of course, we have tried everything we could to support Yuki.

"At some stage, we had to make the difficult call between where we were seeing that going for the following years."

Mekies hopeful Tsunoda will find F1 seat elsewhere

Before Mekies' time at the helm of the F1 outfit, Red Bull earned a reputation for making brutal driver swaps, often midway through a season or in Liam Lawson's case, after only two races.

Reflecting on Red Bull's reputation, Mekies added: “I hope, and I think, that Yuki will get another chance. He will be reserve driver with us next year. You never know what's going to happen.

"We have been quite famous in making fairly swift driver decisions in the past.

“I recall one moment — at the end of the 2024 season, Yuki was driving very well. It was very difficult for him to digest. Liam was getting the promotion in Red Bull Racing. He went into the winter thinking, was he going to get the chance one day or not?

"He came back, and we set ourselves with the team at the time the objective to maximise everything — to shoot for the stars. Three races after, he was driving in that Oracle Red Bull Racing team. So you never know what the future holds.

"I'm sure everyone in this room and beyond has experienced setbacks — sometimes hard setbacks. That’s a setback for him. But I am confident that he has a lot in him that will allow him to have another opportunity.”

But the Frenchman will be hoping that a repeat of Red Bull's rather premature driver swap at the start of the 2025 season will not happen in 2026, with Hadjar instead given the time and space he needs to adapt to the new regulations and machinery alongside Max Verstappen.

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