Laurent Mekies just increased the ‘tension’ at Red Bull with his comment about Liam Lawson’s future

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Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda and Racing Bulls star Liam Lawson are still in the dark as to whether they will be on the 2026 F1 grid, with just two rounds of 2025 left to play.

The Japanese and New Zealand racers are the last drivers in the current field still fighting for a seat on the grid next term. Red Bull are also yet to confirm what the future has in store for Isack Hadjar, but the Racing Bulls rookie is widely expected to join their main team for 2026.

Only Red Bull still have seats to fill on the 2026 grid with drives available across both of their two teams, with Max Verstappen their only driver currently tied down for next term. Lawson has “no idea” when Red Bull will decide his F1 future, too, after they delayed their decision.

Red Bull initially planned to decide their 2026 driver line-ups by the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix at the end of October. But team principal Laurent Mekies announced after round 20/24 that Tsunoda, Hadjar, Lawson and academy talent Arvid Lindblad would have to wait longer.

Red Bull will announce their 2026 driver line-ups ‘immediately’ after the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix

Now, Mekies has stated that Red Bull will announce their 2026 driver line-up, as well as that of Racing Bulls, “immediately” after the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix. The 2025 F1 season rolls on in Lusail this week, including an F1 Sprint, ahead of the final round in Abu Dhabi next week.

READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know

“We will announce our line-up immediately after Qatar,” Mekies said after the Las Vegas GP, via quotes by Nextgen Auto. He continued, while smiling: “Just one more week of patience.”

Nextgen Auto adds that Mekies’ announcement in Sin City increased the ‘tension’ inside the garage, particularly for Tsunoda as the 25-year-old fights for his future in F1. Tsunoda stated in Las Vegas that he is “nervous” about the situation, too, having again failed to take a point.

Tsunoda is the most at-risk member of the Red Bull family, with his best hope for 2026 now being to follow Honda to Aston Martin to serve as a reserve driver behind Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Many believe that Tsunoda has ‘outlived his time’ in the Red Bull program.

The most likely outcome is that Hadjar replaces Tsunoda as Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull in 2026, with Lawson retained at Racing Bulls alongside Lindblad for his rookie season. Red Bull are now ‘expected’ to re-sign Lawson for 2026 following his solid end to this term.

Liam Lawson will be Arvid Lindblad’s F1 mentor at Racing Bulls in 2026

Every indication now points to Tsunoda’s time in the Red Bull family being over at the end of the 2025 season, as the Honda product has failed to adapt since he replaced Lawson in their top team this March. The Kanagawa native has scored 25 of Red Bull’s 391 points in 2025.

READ MORE: Who is Red Bull junior driver Arvid Lindblad? Everything you need to know

Red Bull demoted Lawson back to Racing Bulls in a straight swap with Tsunoda as he did not earn a single point across his mere two rounds for their top team. The 23-year-old has since got his career back on track, having scored 36 points to Hadjar’s 51 for Racing Bulls so far.

But it is also said that Red Bull will retain Lawson to act as a mentor for Lindblad with Racing Bulls in 2026, rather than re-signing the Kiwi for his results this term. Lindblad has not had a perfect rookie year in Formula 2 in 2025, but he is set to move up to F1 at only 18 years old.

The British-Swedish prospect finished fourth in the 2024 F3 standings during his rookie year in the third-tier of single-seater racing. But while Lindblad won the F2 Sprint Race in Saudi Arabia and the Feature Race in Barcelona this year, crashes have been a regular occurrence.