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Liam Lawson will lead Racing Bulls into Formula 1’s new regulations era in 2026, after the Kiwi secured a new contract from Red Bull to team up with rookie Arvid Lindblad.
Red Bull opted to re-sign Lawson for their sister crew for the 2026 season, having watched the 23-year-old get his career back on track following his return to Racing Bulls. Lawson only lasted the first two rounds of the 2025 season at Red Bull before Yuki Tsunoda took his seat.
Tsunoda will now step back to a reserve driver role in 2026, as Red Bull have promoted Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls to partner with Max Verstappen in their main team. Hadjar was the second-highest scoring Red Bull family driver during 2025 with 51 of Racing Bulls’ 92 points.
Lawson secured all 38 of his points during the 2025 season after he returned to Racing Bulls in March. The Hastings, New Zealand native even secured a career-high P5 in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He also achieved a career-high qualifying best of P3 in Baku during round 17/24.
Are you annoyed about F1 lap times getting slower under the 2026 regulations?
Liam Lawson will miss the ‘very, very fast’ speed of Racing Bulls’ 2025 F1 car
Lawson expects Racing Bulls will “lean on” him in 2026, as Red Bull junior Lindblad moves up to F1 at the start of the new regulations cycle. The 2026 F1 regulations represent the biggest rules changes in history with new engine, aerodynamic, chassis and tyre regulations at once.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the 2026 F1 engine and aero regulations
The new engine rules remove the MGU-H, along with increasing the electrical power share from 20/80 to 50/50 and moving to fully sustainable fuels. And while Lawson expects teams will introduce lots of updates in 2026, he will miss the speed of Racing Bulls’ car from 2025.
Lawson told Speedcafe: “The speed, mainly. I think the speed has been, you know, the end of any era of regulations, obviously, the cars are fully developed. And, right now, as sometimes uncomfortable as they are to drive, they’re very, very fast.
“So, that’ll be something that I think is going to be a bit of a change probably going into next year from where we start. But, at the same time, there’s going to be a lot of development, and some new opportunities next year.”
The FIA expects lap times to be one to two seconds slower under the 2026 F1 regulations
While the 2026 regulations will make cars smaller and lighter than the behemoths from the ground-effect era between 2022 and 2025, the FIA expects the new rules will make the cars around one to two seconds a lap slower. Circuits and conditions will also influence the delta.
READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know
How would you rate Liam Lawson’s 2025 season out of 10?
Lawson and Racing Bulls also face a further unknown in 2026, as Red Bull will become an F1 engine manufacturer for the first time. Red Bull established their own power unit division in response to Honda’s initial decision to withdraw from F1 before the 2026 rules were ratified.
Racing Bulls used Honda engines from 2018 until 2025, and Red Bull used Honda engines from 2019 to 2025. But Aston Martin will be the factory Honda engine team from 2026, and even the Japanese brand’s only partner after it agreed to remain in F1 due to the new rules.
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