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Liam Lawson is “excited” for an opportunity at Racing Bulls during the 2026 F1 season that was not on offer to him during 2025, after securing a new contract from Red Bull.
Red Bull announced that Lawson will remain at Racing Bulls for the 2026 season and partner with Arvid Lindblad in his rookie season at the start of December. The 23-year-old had faced competition for the drive from Yuki Tsunoda, who will instead switch to a reserve driver role.
Lawson will also now start a season as a Racing Bulls driver for the first time in his F1 career in 2026. The Kiwi made five mid-season cameo appearances in 2023 and contested the final six rounds in 2024 for Racing Bulls. He started 2025 at Red Bull but only lasted two rounds.
The Hastings, New Zealand native got his career back on track after re-joining Racing Bulls in March. The turning point came at the Austrian Grand Prix in round 11 out of 24, as Racing Bulls gave Lawson a front suspension upgrade that helped him extract the VCARB 02’s pace.
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Liam Lawson feels he ‘missed a lot’ of development time returning to Racing Bulls mid-season
Lawson will miss the “very fast” speed of Racing Bulls’ 2025 F1 car, as F1’s 2026 regulations are set to make lap times around two to three seconds slower. With rookie Lindblad joining the team, as well, Lawson expects Racing Bulls will “lean on” him in 2026 to steer their ship.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the 2026 F1 engine and aero regulations
Starting the 2026 F1 season at Racing Bulls also gives Lawson a chance to prepare himself and grow with his mechanics, which was not available in 2025 after starting the term at Red Bull. Instead, returning to Faenza in March left Lawson playing “catch-up” during the season.
Lawson told RacingNews365: “What I’m looking forward to is that off-season, to have time with the team and prepare properly. Because I think this year, with the way it all started, I definitely felt like I missed a lot of the pre-season development, building.
“Because, especially in a season that’s so close, this year, it was tiny margins. It’s been tiny margins all through the year. So, when I first came [back to Racing Bulls], it was very much, ‘Where are things at with the car?’, ‘What’s the direction we’re going?’.
“It was a new side of the garage for me. I was trying to almost play catch-up with everybody, especially with how rough the first couple of races were.
“Obviously, I have no idea how next year is going to go. But knowing that I have that time before the season, I have a set amount of days that I can basically make the most of and spend with the team, and that preparation, I’m actually excited for, to try and be as ready as possible for next year.”
Liam Lawson will start an F1 season with the same engineers for the first time in 2026
How would you rate Liam Lawson’s 2025 season out of 10?
Lawson inherited Daniel Ricciardo’s engineering team at Racing Bulls when he replaced the Australian for the final six rounds of the 2024 season. The Kiwi then adopted Sergio Perez’s former crew upon his promotion to Red Bull last December to replace the Mexican in 2025.
But when Lawson returned to Racing Bulls in March, he switched seats with Tsunoda, and it meant he inherited the Japanese driver’s old engineering team. The mechanics who worked with Lawson in 2024 became Isack Hadjar’s team, and they will be Lindblad’s team in 2026.
So, the winter break gives Lawson a chance to spend time with the engineers at Racing Bulls ahead of leading the Faenza natives into the 2026 regulations era. He will hope it allows him to hit the ground running next season, after only scoring points in seven Grands Prix in 2025.
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