Revealed: When Red Bull will announce Max Verstappen’s teammate for 2026

Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies has confirmed that the identity of Max Verstappen’s teammate for next year will be announced next week.

There are still three seats up for grabs for 2026 after Alpine announced a new contract for Franco Colapinto earlier this month.

There is one seat at Red Bull — and two at Racing Bulls.

Yuki Tsunoda is the incumbent, having replaced Liam Lawson after just two races.

However, like his predecessor, Tsunoda has struggled to consistently score points.

While Tsunoda hasn’t always had parity in terms of upgrades, the Japanese driver’s performances have been poor throughout.

As a result, it seems likely Tsunoda will be replaced by Isack Hadjar, who is widely regarded as the rookie of the year.

Mekies has revealed an announcement will take place after this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix.

“We will announce our line-up immediately after Qatar,” Mekies said after the Las Vegas GP, via Nextgen Auto.

“Just one more week of patience.”

Racing Bulls in 2026

Red Bull will also decide on their driver line-up for their sister team — Racing Bulls.

Since being demoted back to RB, Lawson has slowly found his form again.

Aside from a few clumsy incidents, Lawson has aided RB’s charge up to sixth in the constructors’ championship.

With the new rules coming into play in 2026, RB will need a proven driver to lead the team.

While Lawson is less experienced than Tsunoda, the latter has been in F1 for five seasons.

Tsunoda hasn’t proved to be more than a solid midfield driver, while Lawson was a close match when they were teammates — with far less experience.

Lawson is set to remain at RB, possibly alongside Arvid Lindblad.

Lindblad is part of the Red Bull junior programme and has impressed during his FP1 outings for the team.