YUKI TSUNODA is reportedly heading for Red Bull’s ever revolving exit door with Max Verstappen set to get a new team-mate for the 2026 season.
But four-time world champion Verstappen could leave himself, with Red Bull desperate for their prized asset to turn down growing interest from Mercedes.
Red Bull will reportedly terminate Yuki Tsunoda’s contract next season
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is back in charge of driver line-ups after Christian Horner’s sacking
Tsunoda is set to be a victim of a full circle moment after he brutally replaced Liam Lawson to partner Verstappen just two races into the current season in March.
The rumour mill said it was former team principal Christian Horner, sacked after 20 years in charge this month, who wanted Lawson out so quickly in March.
But it seems Red Bull will keep to the same replacement scheme without Horner at the helm, with Tsunoda, 25, next in line for the chop.
Ever since Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull at the end of 2018, drivers have rarely lasted more than a season with the team, with upgrade and championship focus always on Verstappen.
Tsunoda’s has endured a miserable season, scoring scrappy points on just three Grand Prix weekends, contributing just seven of the teams 172 total at the halfway point in the campaign.
According to a GPblog report, the decision has already been made to terminate Tsunoda’s contract at the end of the season, although he will remain in place until then.
The Japanese star sits 17th in the drivers standings, is the lowest ranked non-rookie and has gone five rounds without scoring a single point.
Tsunoda’s qualifying results have disappointed in particular, after he escaped a near-death crash in Q1 at Imola, before managing P12 in Monaco, P20 in Spain, P11 in Canada, P18 in Austria and P12 at Silverstone.
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In contrast, Verstappen, 27, secured his fourth pole of the season at Silverstone, but finished fifth in the race behind Lewis Hamilton after skidding off the track in the rain.
With advisor Helmut Marko back in charge of driver line-ups after Horner‘s shock dismissal, Red Bull are likely to look inward to their Racing Bulls junior team for their next F1 star.
One option is going back to Lawson, who has picked himself back up after being removed from his Red Bull seat, sitting above Tsunoda in the drivers standings.
But Marko, 82, is reportedly pushing for a new face and wants to promote 20-year-old rookie Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls next season.
Hadjar entered this season as something of a wildcard after his seat came about after the late decision to sack Sergio Perez caused an opening at Racing Bulls.
But the decision to call him up now looks like a masterstroke, as the French-Algerian youngster sits just outside the top 10 in the drivers standings – with one fewer point than Lawson and Tsunoda COMBINED.
Racing Bulls star Isack Hadjar is the favourite to replace Tsunoda
British F2 driver Arvid Lindblad is also being considered for the second Red Bull seat
But teenage Brit Arvid Lindblad is also being considered to step up from Formula Two after completing his first free practice session at the British Grand Prix on July 6.
The 17-year-old has also been undergoing extensive TPC outings behind the scenes as he prepares to follow in Kimi Antonelli’s footsteps, speedily climbing up the feeder series ladder.
Lindblad was born in 2007 and raised in Surrey to his Swedish motorcross racing father and Indian mother.
Meanwhile, Tsunoda will be the latest in a long line of Red Bull second-seat victims, following in the footsteps of Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez and Lawson.
The F1 season gets back underway in Belgium on July 27, with Verstappen allegedly already having met up with Mercedes chief Toto Wolff while on holiday in Sardinia.
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