Red Bull in no rush to decide Max Verstappen’...

Purple Bull boss Laurent Mekies has confirmed his squad is “not in any hurry” to verify Max Verstappen’s team-mate for the 2026 System 1 marketing campaign. 

The four-time world champion’s present team-mate Yuki Tsunoda has struggled since changing Liam Lawson for spherical three of 2025 onwards, scoring simply seven factors leaving him 18th within the standings.

Tsunoda has due to this fact not been signed for subsequent 12 months but, nevertheless Purple Bull has lengthy had hassle with its second seat because the Japanese driver, Lawson, Sergio Perez, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly have all struggled.

Purple Bull is thought to be fast on driver adjustments given its luxurious place of getting junior squad Racing Bulls additionally on the F1 grid.

However, having seen enchancment from Tsunoda throughout the final two rounds together with his finest qualifying results of the 12 months for Purple Bull in Belgium with seventh, Mekies sees no purpose for a right away change.

“The fact for us is that we’re not in any hurry,” Mekies, who became Red Bull’s F1 boss after Christian Horner’s departure in July, instructed Canal+.

“We’re fortunate to have Yuki within the automobile; we now have Racing Bulls, which is working very properly, and the place we will additionally consider our younger drivers.

“Yuki took an actual step ahead at Spa and likewise in Budapest by way of his deficit to with Max. It wasn’t very noticeable as a result of in Budapest we weren’t aggressive general.

“So we’ll see. Liam is making a whole lot of progress at Racing Bulls, Isack [Hadjar] has been doing a unprecedented job for the reason that begin of the season and retains shocking us at each race.

“Should you take a look at it from Purple Bull’s standpoint, it is onerous to see why we might be in a rush to make this determination.”

Mekies confirmed Purple Bull’s focus is due to this fact on the remainder of the 2025 marketing campaign, with the Austrian outfit fourth within the championship and 42 factors off third-placed Mercedes.

“We perceive the questions and the impatience surrounding this,” he added. “However for us, it is before everything about attempting to place our drivers in the very best place for the rest of the season and seeing the place we’re in just a few months’ time.

“There are nonetheless 10 races to go. Then we’ll make the very best determination with everybody concerned.”