No second chance for Lawson as Marko stands by Tsunoda decision

While speculation swirls around Max Verstappen and George Russell’s long-term futures, don’t expect any clarity at Silverstone.

“No, nothing,” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said bluntly when asked whether fans could expect a 2026 driver announcement at the British Grand Prix.

In Austria, Red Bull’s home race was clouded by more whispers of Verstappen-Wolff talks intensifying behind the scenes, but Dr Helmut Marko left the Red Bull Ring repeating a familiar line.

“There is a contract until 2028,” said the long-time Red Bull advisor and Verstappen confidant. “It has exit clauses that are performance related. As things stand, there is no reason to doubt that the contract will be fulfilled.”

Even though Verstappen currently sits third in the championship - and could theoretically drop behind Mercedes’ George Russell in fourth - Red Bull appears confident he remains contractually committed.

A more pressing issue for the energy drink giant may be the lack of support Verstappen is receiving from his teammates.

Sergio Perez has slumped, Liam Lawson was briefly tried, and Yuki Tsunoda is enduring a difficult stretch. All have failed to meaningfully support the team’s constructors' championship campaign.

Tsunoda, who could follow Honda out of the Red Bull fold entirely at the end of the season, seemed baffled after the Austrian race.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong," he admitted. Marko offered his own diagnosis. “Yuki is lacking confidence at the moment. Then he attempts an overtaking maneuver and collides with his opponent.

“We need to think about how to stabilise him, but we don't have much time for that. The next race is in just a week.”

Meanwhile, Lawson - dropped from the Racing Bulls seat after just two races earlier this year - has begun to find form, defending sixth place from Fernando Alonso with an aggressive one-stop strategy. Still, Marko dismissed any chance of a return swap.

“A driver change doesn't make sense anymore,” he said, standing by the decision to keep Tsunoda over Lawson. “Absolutely, because Lawson was also completely exhausted,” Marko explained.

“He needed a few races to recover, now he has defended a sixth place brilliantly against Fernando Alonso with a one stopper. I think he would not have stayed on his feet next to Max either.”

He added that the team remains committed to helping Tsunoda bounce back.

“He also had that dangerous crash in Imola,” Marko noted. “It is now a sum of negative events, but the speed is there. We see that in the practice sessions too, but when the pressure is on, that changes.”

Some believe Red Bull is paying the price for tailoring its car development too closely to Verstappen’s preferences, creating a machine few others can master, but Christian Horner disagrees.

“It’s difficult, but it’s not that difficult,” the team principal said of the 2025 Red Bull. “The car has gone in a certain direction in recent years,” Horner acknowledged. “But now we have to try to rebuild Yuki's confidence for Silverstone.

“We're going to see how we can support him, but there is a big difference between the two cars. The questions you're asking me, we're also asking ourselves internally.”