Red Bull are still on the hunt for a second driver to place alongside Max Verstappen during the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Unfortunately, there are no candidates who immediately stand out, which has forced them to take their time with the decision. The 2026 F1 regulations are a seismic change for the championship, and Red Bull are going to need two drivers that they can depend on every weekend.
Yuki Tsunoda hasn’t been the guy they thought he might be, and is near the bottom of the drivers’ championship. There’s a small chance that he is retained, but Isack Hadjar is currently the front-runner for the gig. External candidates haven’t been discussed much, but that’s due to the lack of Formula 1 driver market activity.
Red Bull’s 2026 line-up choice is obvious to some, but the idea that the end of the season is just two months away says everything you need to know about the confidence they have in the second seat. Red Bull are testing the ‘physical endurance’ of Arvid Lindblad, before deciding whose spot he will be claiming at Racing Bulls.
READ MORE: Yuki Tsunoda makes fan plea after what he’s ‘starting to understand’ at Red Bull
Photo by Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesRed Bull owners are keen on signing Alex Albon as talks have ‘resumed’ over potential F1 move
Alex Albon is helping Tsunoda ‘a lot’ and has a lot of experience of what it can be like to suffer in the second seat against Verstappen. The Thai driver has reinvented himself at Williams, reminding everyone of why he was given a chance at a top team in the first place.
After assessing the situation, Guenther Steiner thinks Red Bull should get Tsunoda ‘out’, but that would mean they ignore his recent progress and all the hard work he has put in behind the scenes to play catch-up. Are any of his potential replacements even ready?
Isack Hadjar has performed well, but is still a rookie, while Liam Lawson has already failed in the position. An external candidate could be an option, but it would also be costly, considering that the majority of the grid is already under contract.
The Italian edition of Motorsport.com now reports that Red Bull have ‘resumed’ talks with Alex Albon over a potential move to sign him in the future, but it would be considered a big risk for his career. Failing once more could be the end of the road for him in Formula 1.
Red Bull’s Thai boss, Chalerm Yoovidhya, supports any move for him, which could arrive as soon as 2026 if the team opts to give their younger talents more time to develop.
READ MORE: Laurent Mekies and Helmut Marko now disagree on what to do with Yuki Tsunoda next season
Why two incidents prevented Alex Albon from keeping his Red Bull F1 seat
Although Albon’s performance wasn’t electric at Red Bull, two of his best performances for the team ended up yielding 0 points.
If he hadn’t been taken out by Lewis Hamilton on separate occasions at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, then his career might have ended very differently.
Both times, he looked as though he had the pace to go on and take his first win, only to be spun around by Hamilton. Arguably, neither being his fault makes the situation even worse.
‘Everyone’ at Williams is excited for 2026, which would make leaving a project that Albon has invested so much in for a long time difficult, but that’s where the potential of joining Red Bull in 2027 could be intriguing to him.