10/10/2025 14:05
After several years of plugging gaps with experience, Red Bull suddenly has options. The Singapore Grand Prix underlined how crowded the pipeline has become — and how little margin for error remains for anyone not named Max Verstappen.
The contenders
- Yuki Tsunoda: A known quantity whose peaks are higher than ever, but still under pressure to convert speed into relentless points.
- Liam Lawson: Waiting in the wings, race-ready and increasingly hard to ignore.
- Isack Hadjar: Making headlines on and off track — including a blunt aside about Nico Rosberg that nearly made a press officer spit out coffee — while staking a serious claim as a future F1 starter.
- Arvid Lindblad and Alex Dunne: Talents being teed up as future candidates, accelerating the squeeze on current seats.
What Singapore told us
Performance under pressure matters. With Red Bull’s junior ranks brimming, every qualifying lap, every start, every overcut-call has outsized weight. The team’s willingness to promote from within is back — and the bar is rising.
The 2026 lens
- Pairing philosophy alongside Verstappen remains a strategic decision.
- Adaptability to new regulations could trump raw headline speed.
- Consistency and racecraft will decide who survives the shuffle.
Red Bull’s problem is a good one: too much talent, not enough seats. The next few weekends will do more than fill scoreboards — they will shape careers.
