New Red Bull boss urged to fix second car ‘head-scratcher’ ahead of Spa debut

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer thinks new Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies’ immediate priority should be improving the performance of the team’s second car.

After 12 races in F1 2025, the second Red Bull car scored just four points compared to Max Verstappen, who scored 165 points.

This has been an ongoing problem at Red Bull over the past 12 months after Sergio Perez’s form dipped considerably following a strong start.

Red Bull’s second car woes can be traced back to Daniel Ricciardo’s departure at the end of 2018, as Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon also struggled.

This weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix will be Mekies’ first in charge after replacing Christian Horner.

Palmer feels that Mekies’ number one priority needs to be raising Tsunoda’s level of performance.

“I think that’s probably the best use of him in the immediacy. Is to work out where, because if you’ve got two cars that are the same, you have to understand why one driver is so good, and the other one isn’t,” he told the F1 Nation podcast.

“Even Red Bull as a team are scratching their heads thinking ‘How can no one get near Max?’ So when you’ve got now a team principal that hasn’t worked with Max in this capacity.

“Christian had sort of developed Max into the champion that he is, always coming through with Red Bull and they won their titles together. Laurent has actually come from working with Yuki Tsunoda and with Liam Lawson in the past,” continued Palmer

“That was his first foray into being a team principal. He’s kind of the underdog mentality, so I think he’s going to be definitely arm around Yuki, and thinking, ‘Come on, you were great when you drove with me, you were qualifying up in the front three rows. What is going on here?’

“And trying to understand the second driver role a bit more, which I think will be helpful. Whether or not he’ll be able to actually find a performance there is, is obviously the bigger head scratcher for the team.”

Tsunoda fighting for F1 future

Tsunoda’s disappointing performances mean he’s fighting for his F1 future.

Tsunoda looks set to be replaced by Isack Hadjar for 2026.

The Frenchman has enjoyed an impressive rookie season at Racing Bulls.

It’s been reported that Liam Lawson will likely stay put at RB, giving them a reference point, while Arvid Lindblad is on track to join the grid in 2026.

Lindblad has been impressive in F2 and drove for Red Bull in FP1 at the British GP.

Tsunoda’s options are limited for next year.

Cadillac are assessing other drivers such as Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez and Mick Schumacher.

Tsunoda could be given a reserve role at Aston Martin, which will be powered by Honda from 2026.