What Red Bull are saying ‘internally’ about Liam Lawson as he keeps Racing Bulls seat for 2026

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Liam Lawson is staying on the Formula 1 grid in 2026 with Racing Bulls, it has been confirmed. Lawson will partner Arvid Lindblad, who steps up from Formula 2.

Lawson’s F1 future has been uncertain ever since he was dropped by Red Bull just two races after joining. He returned to Racing Bulls but had to rebuild his image.

The New Zealander has done so successfully, seeing off competition from former teammate Yuki Tsunoda for the final spot on the grid. It gives Lawson some much-needed stability as he completes his first pre-season programme with the Faenza team.

After finishing ninth at the Qatar GP last weekend, Lawson has scored 38 points in 21 races for Racing Bulls this season – eight more than Tsunoda has managed in the theoretically faster Red Bull.

Red Bull feel Liam Lawson has been hard done by so far in F1

Writing on the sport’s official website, Lawrence Barretto explained why ‘senior management’ at Red Bull had favoured Lawson. Isack Hadjar’s promotion to Red Bull has been set in stone for months, but the team wanted to give the Racing Bulls hopefuls as long as possible to make their case.

In the end, the verdict was that Tsunoda simply ‘didn’t do enough’. The Qatar GP weekend summed up his form since the summer break – he showed promise with fifth in the Sprint but was then knocked out in Q1 just hours later.

Equally, the team have been pleased with Lawson’s form – he has scored points in seven out of 16 races at Racing Bulls – and his response to being dropped. They also believe he can get significantly better.

ESPN add that there’s a ‘strong feeling internally’ that Lawson has not been ‘given all the conditions to thrive’. He made his debut as a replacement for the injured Daniel Ricciardo in 2023 and wouldn’t return until the final quarter of 2024 when the Australian was let go.

There was further disruption with the short-lived stint at Red Bull, but recently, he’s started to show the benefits of becoming settled in the same environment.

There’s an elephant in the room for Liam Lawson despite Racing Bulls extension

The overriding feeling for Lawson right now will be relief, but he will be fighting for his Formula 1 life again from the first race in 2026.

He has coped admirably with adversity this year, but hasn’t fully undone the reputational damage of losing his seat in record time. Had Red Bull decided not to renew his contract, it’s unlikely that another team would have offered him a route back.

The Racing Bulls team is supposed to be a proving ground, but the consensus is that Lawson won’t return to Red Bull. The question, then, is whether Laurent Mekies and Helmut Marko are simply keeping him around until the next young talent arrives.

This is all hypothetical for now, and the advantage of incumbency shouldn’t be underestimated.