Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies has stated that there is no rush to choose Max Verstappen‘s teammate for 2026. Current Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda narrowly missed scoring points in Mexico, a situation Mekies attributes primarily to the Japanese driver’s slow pit stop. Despite this, Mekies expressed overall satisfaction with Tsunoda’s performance over the weekend, noting the driver’s steady progress. Consequently, Red Bull is keen to avoid making any ‘hasty decisions’ about the driver’s future.
Yuki Tsunoda finished the Mexican Grand Prix one place lower than he started: in eleventh place. After the opening phase of the race, the Japanese driver quickly moved up to eighth place, ahead of then championship leader Oscar Piastri. The battle between the two disrupted the rest of the Australian’s race, who ultimately could not advance beyond fifth place. Tsunoda then came in for a pit stop later than the other Formula 1 drivers – which would last twelve seconds – after which he got stuck in traffic.
After the race, Tsunoda himself believed that the team had squandered valuable points at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. “There were easy points to be had today, but we just threw them away,” concluded the Japanese driver. “It is what it is, it’s racing. The positive is that the pace was reasonably good, so that’s something to take away.”
Mekies Satisfied
Team boss Laurent Mekies also noticed Tsunoda’s good pace. “He was very close to Max Verstappen in the qualification, I think the difference was two-tenths in Q2. And during the race, the first stint was also very strong. He was again two-tenths, three-tenths behind Max, in the same first stint on the medium tires.” The Frenchman then takes responsibility. “After that, to be fair, we let him run a bit longer because it gave us an advantage. Then we had a slightly wrong pit stop, which cost us a few points that he would have scored based on his performance.”
2026
Tsunoda is in his first season as a Red Bull driver, but it remains to be seen whether this will also be his last season with the Austrians. Mekies also refrains from making statements about who will be allowed to join Max Verstappen in a Red Bull in 2026. “Yuki is making progress, the other junior drivers are also making progress. Therefore, we see no reason to make a hasty decision. We will take some more time.” Red Bull may even decide to wait until the GP Abu Dhabi to make a final choice. “We give these guys as many opportunities as possible to show on the track who is the best,” Mekies concludes.
