Five drivers who could replace Max Verstappen if he cops F1 ban

Max Verstappen finds himself walking a tightrope now he is just one point away from triggering an automatic one-race suspension.

The four-time world champion picked up three penalty points on top of a 10 second penalty for his red-mist collision with Mercedes’ George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix.

That took Verstappen up to 11 superlicence points for the current 12-month period. Accumulating 12 penalty points over a year results in a one-race ban.

Verstappen picked up eight penalty points during the 2024 season, two of which will expire automatically after June 30 - the day after the Austrian Grand Prix.

That means the Dutchman will have to be on his best behaviour over the next two races in Canada and Austria to avoid a suspension that would act as a hammer blow to his hopes of winning a fifth consecutive world title this year.

Since the introduction of F1 penalty points in 2014, only Kevin Magnussen was banned. The Dane had to watch the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the sidelines after he racked up 12 penalty points in a 12-month period.

If Verstappen were to become the second F1 driver to cop a ban, who could Red Bull turn to to replace him?

Isack Hadjar

Following a brilliant start to his rookie F1 campaign, Isack Hadjar would surely be the leading candidate to sub in for Verstappen if Red Bull needed to shuffle their driver line-up.

Aside from crashing out of his debut race on the formation lap in Australia, Hadjar has been in fantastic form, and emerged as Red Bull’s second-best performing driver behind Verstappen.

Hadjar has scored points in five of the first nine grand prix including a superb sixth place finish in Monaco.

The 20-year-old Frenchman, who finished runner up in F2 last year, is ninth in the drivers’ championship, ahead of current Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda and his more experienced Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson.

Liam Lawson

Lawson has already been in the Red Bull hot seat this season but his disastrous stint lasted just two races before his extraordinary demotion back to the team’s sister squad.

Nevertheless, the Kiwi would still be an option for Red Bull, particularly if they didn’t want to throw Hadjar in the deep end and potentially destabilise the vital momentum and progress he has made early in his F1 career.

Lawson at least has experience of Red Bull’s extremely difficult to drive RB21 car and might be keen for an opportunity to show that he was dropped too quickly.

Ayumu Iwasa

If Red Bull wanted to use the opportunity to give a completely new driver an opportunity to impress, they could turn to Ayumu Iwasa.

Iwasa is Red Bull’s reserve driver and has tested with the team. The 23-year-old Japanese driver is currently competing in Japan’s Super Formula series and is a race winner in both Formula 2 and Formula 3.

Iwasa has already had a taste of F1 machinery with both Red Bull and Racing Bulls, most recently getting behind the wheel of Verstappen’s RB21 for FP1 at the Bahrain Grand Prix, though he has not yet had the chance to race with either team.

Arvid Lindblad

There is huge excitement surrounding Red Bull protege Arvid Lindblad, who is tipped to be the team’s next Verstappen.

The 17-year-old has already picked up his first win in his rookie F2 season and has emerged as an early title contender, leading Red Bull to ask the FIA for an exemption to the F1 superlicence rules for Lindblad.

While this was done so that Lindblad could participate in F1 practice sessions before his 18th birthday in August - and was submitted well before Verstappen’s penalty situation unfolded - if granted, it would give Red Bull the option for Lindblad to be drafted in to race for either Red Bull or Racing Bulls.

Like Iwasa, it would be more likely that Lindblad would be placed at Racing Bulls in the event either Hadjar or Lawson were promoted.

Daniel Ricciardo or Sergio Perez

More far-fetched options could see either Daniel Ricciardo or Sergio Perez make unlikely Red Bull F1 returns if the team wanted an experienced and known pair of hands.

It is hard to imagine either Ricciardo or Perez accepting such an opportunity given how their respective F1 tenures and affiliations with Red Bull ended in such brutal manners.

Ricciardo has completely distanced himself from motorsport since losing his Racing Bulls drive last year, while Perez is also in the midst of a racing sabbatical and appears to be focused on securing an F1 comeback with Cadillac in 2026.