Red Bull's second driver dilemma is just embarrassing - and there's such a simple solution

This time last year, Red Bull was the dominant force in F1, finishing the 2023 season having won all but one grand prix. But today, the team looks like a different beast entirely.

The last race won by Max Verstappen was the Spanish Grand Prix in June, Red Bull is now losing the constructors’ championship to a resurgent McLaren outfit, senior team members have jumped ship and even Adrian Newey is leaving for pastures new.

But personnel come and go - it might be a team sport, but it’s your drivers that will determine whether you win or lose on race day. Now, even in that department, Red Bull seem to be coming up short.

Max Verstappen is irrefutably one of the most talented F1 drivers of all time - right up there with the likes of Sir Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Jim Clark. But the second Red Bull seat has been a disasterclass ever since Daniel Ricciardo left the team in 2018.

That was six years ago, by the way.

Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and now Sergio Perez have all taken the seat and underperformed. Perez was signed from outside the Red Bull family to be a solid number two driver for Verstappen - and while he was instrumental in his 2021 championship win, the past 18 months have been forgettable at best, and in the worst moments downright embarrassing.

Meanwhile, the wider Red Bull programme has floundered over whether a potential replacement is ready to take his spot. Initially it was set to be the triumphant return of Ricciardo, but his failure to beat Yuki Tsunoda consistently at RB has put an end to that, and seemingly to his F1 career as a whole. Instead, Liam Lawson will see out the rest of the season in his place - but his future hangs in the balance too, with a contract that only runs to the end of 2024.

Tsunoda is being treated like the ugly ginger stepchild of the Red Bull family, having consistently performed but being repeatedly overlooked for a promotion to the front of the pack. At the same time, experienced and talented juniors like Isaac Hadjar, Jehan Daruvala and Iyumu Iwasa are waiting in the wings for their F1 opportunity to present itself.

So why, when there is so much talent available, do I think Red Bull have botched things?

The answer is simple - one of these Red Bull junior drivers should already be Max Verstappen’s teammate - or at least be confirmed for 2025.

Red Bull’s F1 director, Dr Helmut Marko, has already told the media that Liam Lawson has been brought in to “compare” him with Tsunoda, even if the latter is being used as little more than a benchmark. But Perez has been underperforming for almost two years now, and someone should be lined up to take his place already.

Red Bull has always been known for churning out world-class drivers, from Sebastian Vettel to Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and now Max Verstappen. But how can the next generational talent make a name for themselves when they don’t even get a sniff at an F1 race seat?

One of Tsunoda or Lawson should already have been confirmed for a Red Bull drive next season. The team could have thrown out Ricciardo sooner to give Lawson more time to adapt to F1 (Marko wanted to do this in June, but the move was blocked by Christian Horner) and instead it should be Hadjar, Daruvala and Iwasa fighting behind closed doors for the second RB seat.

Sadly, all of this would probably have unfolded if Dietrich Mateschitz was still around. The late co-founder of Red Bull GmbH certainly ruled with an iron fist, but his approach always yielded results. But the power struggle that has emerged since his passing has bled into F1, and despite having so many talented drivers under their wing, I would not be surprised to see Red Bull make a complete and utter hash of this upcoming decision.

If Verstappen does decide to leave, for whatever reason, I think Red Bull could be totally stuffed.