Max Verstappen notified of Red Bull shift in wake of Christian Horner exit

Max Verstappen will have been altered to a shift at Red Bull since Christian Horner’s exit, it has been claimed.

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer believes four-time world champion Verstappen will have noticed Red Bull placing more emphasis on their second car in a bid to solve the confidence crisis Yuki Tsunoda is currently suffering.

These “small shifts”, according to Palmer, will have been instigated by new team principal Laurent Mekies as he aims to address Red Bull’s second driver problem.

Since Mekies’ first race at the helm of Red Bull at the Belgian Grand Prix, Tsunoda has enjoyed a more equal upgrade parity compared to Verstappen.

“Well, he’s [Max] confirmed he’s staying with the team for next year. So that was the first thing that, actually, they needed to clear up with Laurent now at the helm,” Palmer told the F1 Nation podcast.

“I don’t know. I think, because they’re not in a title push, it makes a lot of sense. They’re not sacrificing anything on Verstappen’s car, apart from, potentially, like, extra spares. Max Verstappen isn’t a driver that often needs any spares. So I think he’d be okay with it.

“Obviously, he will see the shift in probably more of the boss’s time being spent trying to understand what’s going on Yuki’s car, whereas before, I think sometimes Christian barely knew he had a second driver in the field! So, there will be these small shifts.

“But Max knows that he’s the star there. He will still be the star there, and if Red Bull want to win next year, they will need to get the most out of Max, because if Yuki stays, he’s not going to be a championship contender next year. He could be a decent support act at best for Verstappen in the new regs.”

Pressure growing on Yuki Tsunoda 

But Palmer raised concerns about Tsunoda’s performance, adding: “Honestly you can’t be expecting less from Yuki.

“If you’d told me at the start of the year, Yuki is 19th in the championship I’d have thought first of all there’s no way he’s driving a Red Bull for most of the year.

“Sometimes Checo had a hard time but he still got some results in the Red Bull. But this year the performance of the second Red Bull has completely fallen off a cliff internally.

“The result that he did get at Zandvoort, he got ninth, as Isack Hadjar got a podium in the Racing Bulls. So it says a huge amount about how difficult the second Red Bull seat is.

“I think we’ve seen a similar spiral of confidence as we saw with Checo last year as well, struggling with different things. Yuki has seemed a little bit better since Laurent has taken over at Red Bull but even his race at Monza was underwhelming. It didn’t look like he had any confidence.”

Red Bull have reportedly already decided that Isack Hadjar will partner Verstappen in 2026.

The 20-year-old Frenchman is set to be rewarded for his excellent rookie F1 campaign by being promoted to the Red Bull senior team next year, according to German publication Auto Motor und Sport.

AMuS also report that Hadjar’s vacant Racing Bulls seat will be filled by Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad.

With both Hadjar and Lindblad poised for promotion, the final seat at Racing Bulls is set to go to either Tsunoda or Liam Lawson.