Isack Hadjar wants Red Bull to give him something they never gave Liam Lawson if he gets 2026 seat

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Red Bull announced that Liam Lawson would be one of their 2025 drivers in mid-December last year. As the end of the current season approaches, they still haven’t confirmed their plans for 2026.

Lawson was made to wait as Red Bull negotiated a severance package with Sergio Perez. Perez had signed a new contract in June before his form deteriorated, so the team made the expensive decision to back out of the commitment.

His replacement lasted just two races before Yuki Tsunoda took over. Perez says no driver could survive alongside Max Verstappen, not even Lewis Hamilton.

With Tsunoda continuing the second-driver cycle at Milton Keynes, Red Bull will now look to Isack Hadjar, or at least that’s the overwhelming expectation. The team initially said they would make a decision after Mexico, but they’ve pushed that deadline back.

Isack Hadjar wants to be in the Red Bull for the Abu Dhabi test

As noted by Motorsport Italia, Hadjar’s stance on the move has shifted throughout the year. It was suggested as recently as August that Hadjar was ‘highly resistant’ to joining Red Bull so early in his career.

Soon after, though, it emerged that Hadjar had changed his mind. Initially, he didn’t feel ready, but now he’s open about his desire to take the step up.

• READ MORE: Arvid Lindblad’s manager has privately explained why he’ll be better than Liam Lawson if he gets F1 seat

In fact, Hadjar is hoping to be in the Red Bull for the post-season test at Abu Dhabi, which will take place following the season finale. Last year, Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg, Kimi Antonelli, Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto all made debuts for their new teams.

But Lawson drove the Racing Bulls car, with Christian Horner and Helmut Marko still yet to finalise the driver selection process. This lack of mileage arguably hurt the New Zealander, particularly as his testing programme in Bahrain was affected by unreliability and adverse conditions.

Martin Brundle’s concern about Red Bull promoting Isack Hadjar

Lawson completed just 149 laps in the Red Bull before he made his Grand Prix debut in Australia. For reference, only Lance Stroll (133) ranked below him in the leaderboard.

Given that Lawson had only made 11 race starts before receiving the call-up, he needed all the track time he could get. While Hadjar is a little more experienced (19 starts), perhaps he’s wary of a repeat.

Gary Anderson says Red Bull should give Liam Lawson a ‘second chance’, but that looks highly unlikely at this stage. In fact, Lawson may be a stopgap solution in the seat until the team unleashes another young driver.

Martin Brundle has warned Red Bull about promoting Hadjar, arguing that it’s particularly risky in the context of the 2026 regulation changes, which will be an even bigger test of a driver’s capacity.