Hi friends,
This recap is technically a week late. Last Thursday I was holding out for some driver news I’d been told was about to drop. When that didn’t happen I thought “Okay, I’ll delay it until tomorrow and the news will certainly have dropped”. Then that didn’t happen. So it turned into, “okay, right after the weekend they’ll surely drop the news” and now, here we are – a full week later.
But at least we finally have the news.
Top Story of the Week: Sergio Perez Will Leave Red Bull and Liam Lawson Will Take His Place
It’s probably one of the worst kept secrets in recent Formula 1 history. I don’t think there’s a single journalist or outlet, who hasn’t run the story anout Perez leaving over the past few months.
There’s not really that much to say about the reasons for Perez’s departure – I think we’ve all had a front row ticket to his struggles over the past few seasons.
So let’s instead talk about the guy who is taking over – Liam Lawson, and perhaps even more importantly, the guy who isn’t – Yuki Tsunoda.
Looking at their performance, there isn’t much to set them apart in any meaningful way. I would argue that Lawson is on a steeper development curve than Tsunoda, but on the other hand, Tsunoda has more experience.
So instead, we have to look at what is going on off-track. Tsunoda has the backing of Honda, and while it might sound a tad strange to count the backing of a major car brand as a negative, we have to factor in that Honda decided to end their relationship with Red Bull at the end of 2025, after which they’re moving to Aston Martin. Coincidentally, 2025 is also when Tsunoda’s contract with VCARB is up.
I believe it’s been a much closer decision between the two than people think, but ultimately Red Bull believe that Lawson has a higher performance ceiling than Tsunoda, and the loss of the team’s Honda backing isn’t doing him any favours either.
On the back of the departures of both Nyck de Vries and Daniel Ricciardo – both of whom Tsunoda outperformed as their teammate, stories emerged that Red Bull mangement and shareholders wanted the team to go back to being a junior team, fostering young talent from their academy.
Red Bull have Isack Hadjar in the wings, who by all accounts will be joining VCARB next season – and drivers like Arvid Lindblad making their way though the junior series, who will soon be ready to step up and challenge Tsunoda for that seat.
I think there’s a very real risk, that Yuki Tsunoda won’t be part of the Red Bull organisation when we enter 2026.
The Rest of the Stories This Week:
- Valtteri Bottas returns to Mercedes as their reserve driver
- Théo Pourchaire, Zane Maloney and Carrie Schreiner all leave the Sauber Academy
- The proposed changes to the governance of the FIA Ethics and Audit Committees were passed
- The FIA has introduced a new set of rules, called Operational Regulations
- The FIA has updated the Driver Commitment form, removing a passage requiring drivers to acknowledge that “the FIA condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the support provided by Belarus”
- The FIA doesn’t want to pay for permanent race stewards
- Cadillac and Ferrari have confirmed a multi-year deal for the new team to use Ferrari engines and gearboxes
- Construction of the new paddock at Hungaroring is coming along
- Santander will leave Ferrari and join Sainz at Williams
- Alex Jacques has left his position as Formula 2 commentator
- Former Marussia and Virgin F1 CEO Graeme Lowdon will be the Team Principal of Cadillac
- Doriane Pin has renewed her contract with Mercedes’ F1 Academy team
- Bianca Bustamante is joining Elite Motorsport in GB3
- Thailand wants to host an F1 race from 2027
- Rwanda wants to host an F1 race from 2028 or 2029
- The Spanish GP in Madrid from 2026 will also feature F2 and F3
- Honda and Nissan are negotiating a merger
- Eddie Jordan has revealed he’s battling cancer
- Kevin Magnussen will do the full WEC season, as well as Daytona, Sebring and Road Atlanta in IMSA
That’s it for this week. Until next time, thank you for being here.
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