Yesterday at 08:20
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has detailed how he will
judge who should race for the squad next year. Max Verstappen has
already pledged his position within the team for 2026 despite his
immediate future being an uncertain topic for much of the year. The
Dutchman has often been Red Bull's only point-scorer this year with
Yuki Tsunoda struggling in the second seat. Tsunoda was promoted to
Red Bull early in the season after Liam Lawson endured a
challenging opening two rounds behind the wheel of the RB21. Racing
Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar has been linked with a promotion to the
team amid his strong rookie campaign. When asked what criteria he
will analyse to decide who will race alongside Max Verstappen next
year, Mekies told media including RacingNews365 : "Quali pace and
race pace. "It's as simple as that." Tsunoda failed to score
points last time out at Monza despite finishing in the top 10 after
qualifying. However, Mekies detailed there are positives to take
from the weekend. "The race for Yuki was difficult to read because
of the traffic in the first stint and damage in the second stint,"
he said. "I look at qualifying, and I still qualify it as a good
weekend. He was two tenths from Max in Q1, and Max was not exactly.
"Then, with a small deficit from the car, he was two tenths from
Max in Q2 and there is no doubt everybody is pushing 100 per cent
in Q2. "Yes, the gap was bigger in Q3 - but first, he put the car
in Q3, which is a very good performance. "And second, he was first
on the road in Q3, it didn't help as well. "Short-run pace was a
very good sample for Yuki. Long-run pace, it's frustrating not to
have clean race data."
