F1 boss rules out stunning Red Bull in-season driver swap

Racing Bulls F1 boss Peter Bayer has slapped down the idea that he could lose a driver to Red Bull this season.

Isack Hadjar has had an impressive rookie season to date, outperforming more experienced team-mate Liam Lawson 11-3 in qualifying sessions (including sprint qualifying) and dominating in race performance too.

With Yuki Tsunoda struggling mightily after replacing Lawson alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull, there have been some calls for Hadjar to be bumped up from the junior team sooner rather than later, especially with Laurent Mekies being moved up from Racing Bulls to replace Christian Horner.

Bayer has slapped down that notion though, insisting that there is a 'strong alignment' within the team and that while talks about Hadjar's 2026 drive may kick off soon, his spot with Racing Bulls is locked in for the rest of this year.

Drivers partnering Verstappen have had a rough 18 months, likely explaining the organisation's hesitation to stall or undo much of the good work done with Hadjar in the first half of this season.

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Bayer reveals incredible Hadjar story

“We have strong alignment internally that we need to go through this year calmly, with everyone focusing on their jobs," he told Planet F1.

“I’m sure that, post-summer break, discussions will start about 2026, but honestly, I dare to say that in ’25, we all want to keep it calm and, talking about Isack, give him the chance to grow, to learn. Honestly, he is incredible.”

Bayer also told one instructive story about the French-Algerian driver from a qualifying session earlier this season, admitting: “I’m still struggling to believe it, but it’s what happened.

“I was listening to the radio when he was coming in, the umbilical in. His race engineer [Pierre Hamelin] said: ‘Look, Isack, you’re losing about half a tenth in Turn 6’.

“Isack said to him: ‘Can you be more precise?’ Pierre said, ‘Yes, I can. You’re losing 0.035 of a second in that turn.’ And Isaac said: ‘OK, then I know what to do.’ [And he did it].”

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