Jacques Villeneuve Rates 2025 IndyCar Champion as the “Perfect” Driver to Take the Second Red Bull Seat Alongside Max Verstappen in 2026 Instead The Japanese Driver Has Failed to Impress but McLaren Has Stopped Alex Palou from Doing So
In the high-stakes world of Formula 1, where driver lineups can shift as dramatically as the cars they pilot, few voices carry the weight of Jacques Villeneuve’s. The 1997 world champion, known for his unfiltered takes and storied career that bridged IndyCar and F1, has thrown a curveball into Red Bull’s ongoing search for stability beside Max Verstappen. Speaking from the paddock at the 2025 Mexican Grand Prix, Villeneuve declared four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou the “perfect” candidate to claim the second Red Bull seat in 2026, dismissing current occupant Yuki Tsunoda as simply “not good enough” after five seasons on the grid.
Villeneuve’s endorsement came during a casual Sky Sports F1 discussion about Red Bull’s precarious driver market. With only five races left in the 2025 campaign, the team remains undecided on its pairings for the new 2026 regulations era. Verstappen’s throne is secure, his fourth consecutive drivers’ title all but clinched amid McLaren’s constructors’ dominance. But the seat alongside him has been a revolving door of disappointment: Sergio Perez’s mid-2024 exit, Liam Lawson’s brief, turbulent stint at the season’s start, and now Tsunoda’s promotion from sister team Racing Bulls, which has yielded scant results.
“Tsunoda? How many years has he been around… five? We’ve seen if he’s good… and he’s not,” Villeneuve said bluntly, his words echoing across the Mexico City circuit like a qualifying lap gone wrong. The Japanese driver’s 2025 season with Red Bull has been a masterclass in mediocrity. Promoted after Lawson’s early struggles—marked by two non-scoring finishes in the opening rounds—Tsunoda inherited the RB21, a car that demands near-telepathic harmony to unlock its potential. Yet, through 18 races, he sits 17th in the standings with just 30 points, including a lone podium in a chaotic wet Azerbaijan Grand Prix where he salvaged sixth after a qualifying crash. His Bahrain ninth was a flicker of promise, but it faded into a string of Q2 eliminations and pit-lane starts, culminating in a P10 qualifying at Mexico despite track conditions that felled even Verstappen.
Tsunoda’s frustrations are palpable. Post-Monza, he credited simulator tweaks for “unlocking something” that propelled his Baku heroics, but the gains evaporated in the heat of Imola and beyond. Crashes, electrical gremlins, and an inability to match Verstappen’s sorcery with the car’s twitchy aero have left him fighting not just the machinery, but whispers of demotion back to Racing Bulls. Honda’s €10 million nudge for a home-soil promotion at Suzuka hasn’t translated to on-track magic, and with Arvid Lindblad lurking as a fresh-faced alternative, Tsunoda’s grip on a 2026 Red Bull drive feels tenuous at best.
Enter Alex Palou, the 28-year-old Spaniard whose 2025 IndyCar season reads like a domination playbook. Driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, Palou clinched his fourth title—three in a row—with two races to spare, racking up eight wins from 17 starts, including a tear-jerking triumph at the 109th Indianapolis 500. His oval mastery at Indy, leading 199 of 250 laps at Milwaukee en route to a runner-up, underscores a versatility that spans street circuits, road courses, and superspeedways—pressures that Villeneuve argues dwarf those in Formula 2. “He’s winning races under pressure in every kind of circumstance. Perfect future Red Bull driver,” Villeneuve enthused, urging the team to “test him out.” “He’s a known quantity as a race car driver, with much better training and practice than an F2 driver. He competes under tremendous pressure… and he’s always at the top.”
Palou’s F1 flirtations aren’t new. August reports linked him to Red Bull’s shortlist, with sources confirming talks about a Verstappen pairing, though the team swiftly quashed rumors. His Chip Ganassi contract runs through 2026, but an exit clause for F1 lures exists—demanding a “hefty sum” to activate. Yet, the elephant in the garage is McLaren, whose bitter contract saga has effectively sidelined Palou from the F1 fast lane. In 2022, Palou inked a multi-year deal with McLaren’s IndyCar arm, enticed by promises of an F1 reserve role evolving into a race seat. But the signing of Oscar Piastri dashed those dreams, leaving Palou feeling “sold a false dream based on lies and false impressions,” as he testified in London’s High Court this September.
The fallout was swift. Palou reneged, staying with Ganassi and sparking a $20.7 million lawsuit from McLaren for lost sponsorship—NTT Data’s pullout chief among them—and scrambling their lineup. Pato O’Ward stepped up as reserve, while Palou’s “upset and angry” reaction to Piastri’s arrival—reassured by CEO Zak Brown only to feel deceived—has mired him in litigation. Mediation looms, but the dispute has frozen Palou’s mobility; even a 2025 F1 clause in his Ganassi deal was McLaren-specific, and Red Bull’s interest hasn’t progressed amid the legal quagmire. “I’ll be paying for years,” Palou lamented, his courtroom candor underscoring the toll on what could have been a seamless F1 transition.
Villeneuve, no stranger to the Indy-to-F1 leap himself, sees Palou as a low-risk revolution. Unlike F2 prospects like Hadjar or Lindblad—raw talents unproven in the 800-horsepower cauldron—Palou’s maturity shines. At 28, he’s peaked without plateauing, his European karting roots and simulator prowess promising quick adaptation. Red Bull’s junior program, churning through Lawson (now eyed for Racing Bulls retention) and Tsunoda, craves reliability. Palou could be that: a metronomic force to Verstappen’s flair, stabilizing the car without the intra-team fireworks that sank Perez.
Yet, realism tempers the romance. Red Bull’s Helmut Marko, ever the gatekeeper, prioritizes youth and loyalty; Palou’s $30 million buyout plus McLaren’s shadow might deter. The Austrian squad’s August overtures fizzled, with Palou himself downplaying F1’s allure: “There’s not many seats I’d consider changing for… I like winning races.” Still, as 2026’s ground-effect tweaks loom, Villeneuve’s pitch resonates. In a grid bloated with unready rookies, Palou represents proven pedigree—a champion who could turn Red Bull’s second seat from curse to cornerstone.
The Mexican weekend buzzed with the idea, Villeneuve’s co-commentators chuckling at the audacity while fans on X lit up with support. For Tsunoda, it’s a stark wake-up; for Palou, a tantalizing what-if amid courtroom chains. As F1 hurtles toward its most transformative rules shift in decades, one thing’s clear: in Villeneuve’s eyes, the perfect partner for Verstappen isn’t brewing in F2—it’s already conquered IndyCar, waiting for the call that McLaren’s mess might finally allow.
