Yuki Tsunoda deserves a return to full-time racing, says Laurent Mekies

Yuki Tsunoda deserves “another opportunity” to race full time after losing his Formula 1 seat at the end of last year, says Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies.

The Austrian outfit demoted Tsunoda into a reserve driver role after a very poor 2025 campaign, where he scored just 30 points across 22 grands prix for Red Bull, leaving him 17th in the championship.

That was compared to second for team-mate Max Verstappen, so Tsunoda was replaced by Isack Hadjar, who impressed in his rookie season for sister squad Racing Bulls with a podium at Zandvoort.

But Mekies thinks Tsunoda has still shown enough to warrant a full-time seat somewhere, having driven at Racing Bulls for four years before his Red Bull move.

“Yuki is doing a great job with us, not only as a reserve driver, but also as a simulator driver,” Mekies told the Beyond the Grid podcast.

“It's great to have somebody that has such deep, recent experience of the car that can help us behind the scenes. Of course, we wish for him that there is an opportunity that comes soon because racing drivers are meant to race. And that's what we wish for Yuki.

Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

“We are conscious that we haven't been as strong as we would have liked in the past in terms of the second-car performance at Red Bull Racing and it's something we are taking the learnings, we are trying to improve day after day.

“It's fair to say that Yuki has shown significant speed in the past and we wish for him that another opportunity comes along the way.”

But that second chance is unlikely to come at Red Bull because Hadjar has shown promise during his three grands prix alongside Verstappen so far, despite a troublesome RB22.

The highlight is undoubtedly qualifying third on his debut in Melbourne, while he also scored points in China and outqualified his world champion team-mate at Suzuka - something Tsunoda never achieved.

“Isack is in a great place right now,” said Mekies before the Japanese Grand Prix. “He has done, I think, everything he could have done to maximise his integration with the team.

“He moved to London in the early days of January. He's at the factory every other day. He spends as much time as he can in the simulator, trying to understand all the engineering parts around the car. He has been as keen as you can be.

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Lars Baron / LAT Images via Getty Images

“I think he even flew back between the two Bahrain tests just to try more stuff on the simulators and flew back to Bahrain. So, credit to him for the level of commitment.

“But the truth is, he's not making an effort, that’s what he loves to do. He has been living, dreaming about that moment for a long time, and for him, it's his dream.

“It's our dream to be able to spend time and energy in the simulator or with the engineer. So he has been doing that very intensely. I think the first two races show that it's already showing the right results.

“He has been able to show the right speed straight away. I'm sure he will remember his first qualifying with us with a P3 in Melbourne, and it's a long season that will be up and down.

“We believe drivers make steps and we expect steps from Isack this year and we think he has all the right talents and all the right approach to be able to make these steps.”