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Liam Lawson only spent two rounds at Red Bull before he returned to Racing Bulls in 2025, but his efforts with the Faenza crew could now help their parent team in 2026.
Lawson starts a season as a Racing Bulls driver for the first time in 2026, having joined them midway through the 2023 and 2024 campaigns and from round three in 2025. Red Bull sent the 23-year-old back to Faenza two rounds after his promotion, as he struggled in the RB21.
With this term also marking the start of the 2026 F1 regulations cycle, Lawson hopes to have a bigger say in Racing Bulls’ upgrades. The Kiwi has taken on the role of team leader, as Red Bull have placed 18-year-old prospect Arvid Lindblad at Racing Bulls for his rookie season.
Red Bull have promoted Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls to replace Yuki Tsunoda in the 2026 F1 season. The 21-year-old has now joined Max Verstappen in Milton Keynes at the start of a new era for the team, with the maiden Red Bull Powertrains engine hitting the grid this term.
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Racing Bulls’ shakedown proved Red Bulls’ ‘confidence’ in their 2026 F1 rules engine
Red Bull have become a power unit constructor after Honda initially quit F1, before pulling a U-turn because of the 2026 regulations and agreeing to an exclusive deal with Aston Martin. F1 engines now feature a near 50/50 electrical/ICE power split and run on sustainable fuels.
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Racing Bulls initially struggled to start their Red Bull engine during a shakedown at Imola on Tuesday with Lawson. The Faenza natives also staged a filming day at Imola on Wednesday, which revealed Racing Bulls’ interesting front suspension set-up on Lawson’s 2026 rules car.
Lawson and Lindblad’s laps with the Racing Bulls VCARB 03 at Imola also offered Red Bull an “advantage”. Giedo van der Garde thinks Racing Bulls’ data will have encouraged Red Bull to head to the shakedown at Barcelona on January 26-30 feeling confident about their engine.
Van der Garde told RacingNews365: “The sister team have already driven a few laps. That’s an advantage. They have probably already picked up some things from that. They will hear something about that, of course. They have enough engineers on board.
“That’s already positive, that they’ve had that. It also shows a lot of confidence, [and] why they’re like, ‘We’re not going to do that. We’ll be there right away’.”
Concerns linger about the reliability of Red Bull’s 2026 F1 regulations engine
What impact will Williams missing the Barcelona shakedown test have on their 2026 season?
Red Bull decided against staging a private shakedown or a filming day, which respectively let teams complete up to 15km and 200km of on-track activity. Instead, Verstappen and Hadjar will record their first laps in the RB22 at the official shakedown test in Barcelona next week.
F1 is holding a shakedown test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where teams can run on three of the five days. Williams have confirmed they will miss the Barcelona shakedown test, while McLaren and Ferrari do not intend to take to the track on the first available day.
Red Bull will take a race-ready car to the 2026 Barcelona test, as they feel it is their best way to get valuable data that will influence their updates. The shakedown will also be important to test the RBPT DM01 amid concerns over the reliability of Red Bull’s 2026 F1 rules engine.
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