Hadjar in, Tsunoda out at Red Bull for 2026 + F1's big title decider previewed

The Race F1 Podcast

The Race Media Ltd

Sports

4.5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a bumper mid-week edition of The Race F1 Podcast, we analyse Red Bull's big driver decisions for 2026 and look ahead to the massive title showdown in Abu Dhabi between Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri.

First up, with the news that Isack Hadjar is to be promoted in place of Yuki Tsuonda in 2026, we asked if the 21-year-old can end the curse of the second Red Bull and thrive as Max Verstappen’s team-mate.

Jon Noble and Ben Anderson join Edd Straw to explain why the change has been made and what qualities Hadjar has shown during his rookie F1 season, as well as the challenges he will face. Whether Yuki Tsunoda has been given a fair shot at Red Bull Racing is also discussed, along with why he failed to make a bigger impact in his outings for the team in 2025.

We also explain why Liam Lawson has been given the nod to lead the sister Racing Bulls squad in 2026, and what we can expect from his new rookie team-mate, Arvid Lindblad, who'll partner the New Zealander next season.

Finally, we look ahead to the world championship decider in Abu Dhabi, discussing the various title permutations, how each contender is likely to approach the weekend, and what could potentially derail the points leader and favourite, Lando Norris.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The Athletic
0:02.7	The Race is on, and it's Isaac Hajar in at Red Bulls,
0:16.1	Arvid Lindblad in at Racing Bulls,
0:18.0	Yuki Sonoda out, and Liam Lawson staying put, as the final questions
0:22.4	about the 2026 grid have been answered. I'm Ed Straw and joining me to dissect Red Bull's
0:27.5	decisions and look ahead to the exciting three-way Abadabie title decider are John Noble and
0:33.3	Ben Anderson. John, we're going to talk about the title battle later on, but first, it was an open secret
0:41.5	in the Qatar paddock, but we know now that Isaac Hadjar will be promoted to Red Bull Racing
0:47.0	to meet Max Verstappen's teammate next year.
0:49.9	It's the expense of Yuki Sonoda, of course.
0:52.5	Can Isaac Hadjar be the driver who finally makes it work in that
0:56.5	role, or will the second car curse continue? I think a lot will depend on the format of the kind of
1:03.0	the shakeout of the grid next year, competitiveness, how close things are at, what the 26 cars are
1:08.6	like. Because I think if you dig deep into it, you'd expect Max Verstappen's teammates to be
1:14.2	two to three tenths behind.
1:16.1	That's not a disaster.
1:18.0	You'd think that's acceptable.
1:19.5	But the way F-1's been this season, that's where Yuki's been off Max in some qualifying
1:24.7	sessions.
1:25.2	And as happened in Qatar, two to three temps off on the Saturday
1:30.0	qualifying that was him out of Q1 that's been the difference so to expect EZAC to be closer than
1:35.8	that I think is a step too far but if the field spread is larger next year if there is um you know
	...

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