Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Jolyon Palmer believes Max Verstappen is the driver who could reshape Formula 1’s market this year, and says Red Bull should target Charles Leclerc if the reigning champion leaves the team.
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, the former Formula 1 driver said Verstappen is “the biggest one” in the market because any move by the Dutchman would trigger a chain reaction. “If something happens there, then it's whether he moves to another team, in which case we've definitely got a frenzy on our hands,” Palmer said. He added that if Verstappen stays in Formula 1 but leaves Red Bull, “there's a space at Red Bull, which could see an opportunistic driver elsewhere move there.”
That speculation has grown around Verstappen’s frustration with Formula 1’s 2026 rules. He previously described the new regulations as “Formula E on steroids” and has admitted he is weighing his options at the end of the year. Fresh uncertainty has also emerged after his long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase agreed to join McLaren from 2028 at the latest, with Verstappen having previously said he would not work with any other race engineer.
For Palmer, the obvious answer for Red Bull would not be a promotion from within but a move for an established star. “If money was no object, Charles Leclerc,” he said. Palmer called the Ferrari driver “supremely talented” and argued that if Ferrari “can’t show this year that they can be capable of winning the title,” Leclerc “could be tempted away.”
He said Leclerc’s long stay at Ferrari could become a factor if the team still cannot put him in a championship fight. “Would he be tempted enough to go to Red Bull? We're talking real hypotheticals here, but I still think there's a title in him, and I think he might be tempted,” Palmer said.
The idea remains speculative, but Palmer’s argument is rooted in Red Bull needing a proven top-level replacement for a driver of Verstappen’s calibre. There is also at least some sporting logic to the suggestion because team principal Laurent Mekies knows Leclerc well from their time together at Ferrari.
James Hinchcliffe, Palmer’s co-host on the same podcast, offered a different name in Oscar Piastri. Hinchcliffe said the McLaren driver could be drawn by the chance to become “the de facto number one at Red Bull,” especially if he saw that as more attractive in the long term than being one of two equal lead drivers at McLaren.
Even so, Palmer’s Leclerc theory underlines the scale of what a Verstappen exit would mean. If Red Bull loses the driver at the center of the current market, replacing him would not just be about filling a seat but about deciding whether the team can still fight for titles in Formula 1’s next phase.