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Liam Lawson stabilising his performances in the 2025 season convinced Racing Bulls to gift him a new contract, but CEO Peter Bayer sees an area he must improve in 2026.
The 23-year-old faced an uncertain future on the Formula 1 grid right until the final round of 2025. Red Bull left it late to set the respective driver line-ups at their two F1 teams, but they ultimately decided to keep Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda after promoting Isack Hadjar for 2026.
Hadjar has graduated from Racing Bulls to Red Bull to replace Tsunoda, who will serve as the reserve driver for both squads in 2026. Also, Lawson will serve as Racing Bulls’ lead driver in 2026, as the Faenza outfit welcome Red Bull prospect Arvid Lindblad for his rookie season.
Red Bull have promoted Hadjar for the 2026 F1 season as the 21-year-old was the second-best driver among their ranks during 2025. Only Max Verstappen scored more points among the Red Bull family than Hadjar with 421 and 51, while Lawson took 38 and Tsunoda got 33.
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Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer urges Liam Lawson to improve his ‘qualifying pace’ in 2026
Racing Bulls CEO Bayer acknowledges that Lawson’s demotion back from Red Bull after only the first two rounds of 2025 left him on the back foot. Lawson took until the Austrian Grand Prix in round 11 to find his way thanks to Racing Bulls delivering a front suspension upgrade.
READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know
Lawson “stabilising” his performances thereafter, with six of his seven point-scoring finishes through 14 rounds, convinced Red Bull and Racing Bulls to re-sign him for 2026. But Bayer is now keen to see Lawson improve his qualifying pace, having been beaten by Hadjar in 2025.
“Honestly, in terms of performance, we see his performance stabilising, which I think was the most important thing for us,” Bayer told RacingNews365. “And when the decision was made to award him the seat [for 2026], that was the main element.”
Bayer continued: “He fits well into our philosophy. He’s been a part of the Red Bull junior programme for many years and, honestly, he did everything right [in 2025].
“Despite the setback [and] having difficulties, in terms of race pace, there were a couple of races where he was faster than Isack. We need to work on his qualifying pace, but there’s a lot of potential.”
Isack Hadjar beat Liam Lawson 16-6 in their 2025 F1 Grand Prix qualifying head-to-head
Hadjar was regularly a cut above Lawson during qualifying sessions throughout their time as teammates for Racing Bulls in 2025. The Frenchman in his rookie campaign beat Lawson 16-6 in Grand Prix qualifying sessions and scored a 5-0 whitewash in Sprint Qualifying sessions.
READ MORE: F1 2025 teammate head-to-heads, including Grand Prix and Sprint results
How would you rate Liam Lawson’s 2025 season out of 10?
Also, while Lawson registered a superior personal-best qualifying result compared to Hadjar in 2025, he only made Q3 eight times compared to the Parisian’s 16 times. Lawson qualified a career-best P3 for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while Hadjar qualified P4 for the Dutch GP.
Hadjar further only bowed out of qualifying during Q1 twice, whereas Lawson fell at the first hurdle seven times, including during his two appearances with Red Bull. Hadjar recorded his only Q1 exits in his rookie F1 season during round 16 in Italy (P16) and 19 in America (crash).
Having to re-learn Racing Bulls’ car after his brief spell at Red Bull to start the 2025 season affected Lawson’s qualifying form. But Lawson knows the benefits of starting 2026 at Racing Bulls, and he will hope it can help him adapt to the new regulations and show improvement.
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