Rumour: Ricciardo and Perez must make room for young talent

Rumours of seat occupancy within the Red Bull family continue to swirl around people’s minds. Auto Motor und Sport (AMuS) claims that Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson are on their way to VCARB from 2025, the Red Bull Racing training team. This means that Yuki Tsunoda – partly due to his strong performances – will be transferred to Red Bull and Ricciardo will leave VCARB.

Originally, Red Bull’s second team was a racing stable where talent from the Red Bull Junior programme was given a chance. In recent years, experience has been used with Nyck de Vries and Ricciardio. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said some time ago that the team’s shareholders wanted VCARB to become a training team again. The rumours that young talents Lawson and Hager are eligible are not out of the blue. Whether this is realistic remains to be seen.

Lawson had been in the waiting room for a while and was hoping to play for VCARB this year, but Red Bull opted for the experienced Daniel Ricciardo. The latter’s performances have been inconsistent despite his impressive CV. Sergio Perez is on the verge of being cut short for the main team. The Mexican has been underperforming in recent months compared to Verstappen. Despite the recent contract, Perez will be sitting in the rocking chair if Hungary and Belgium disappoint again. Several media outlets have reported that his deal is full of performance clauses. If the results are too bad, Red Bull could replace him.

The relatively unknown woman is Hajar. The Frenchman is currently competing in Formula 2 and is enjoying a strong second season in the rookie category. He leads the championship despite some bad luck and has won several notable races. Hajar has previously driven an FP1 car several times for the Red Bull team.