Liam Lawson knows the drill by now. Under the marina lights in Singapore, the Racing Bulls driver cut a relaxed figure, but the words told a different story: he expects Red Bull to leave him hanging before deciding where he fits in the 2026 picture.
“I’d love to know tomorrow,” he admitted. “But in this camp it’s normal to be left on hold a little bit. I know the only thing I can control is my performance in the car.”
It’s been a chaotic year for the 22-year-old. After parachuting into F1 in 2023 as a super-sub, Lawson’s full-time shot finally came after last year’s Singapore Grand Prix when he replaced Daniel Ricciardo. Red Bull then placed him alongside Max Verstappen to start 2025, a high-wire assignment in the RB21 that lasted two races before the team pivoted to the safer hands of Yuki Tsunoda. Lawson was promptly sent back to Racing Bulls — and into a car he hadn’t tested with a crew he hadn’t worked with over the winter.
The early returns weren’t pretty. Rookie teammate Isack Hadjar, better prepared and bedded in, set the tone on Saturdays and Sundays while Lawson scrambled to find a groove. But the Kiwi’s reset has been quietly effective. As the weekends have stacked up, so have the points. The headline act was Baku, where he hustled the VCARB into fifth and left with the kind of result that keeps you in uncomfortable conversations in Milton Keynes.
The problem for Lawson is the same one that has built Red Bull’s reputation: the decision machine rarely moves to anyone else’s schedule. The senior team hasn’t named Verstappen’s 2026 partner, while neither Racing Bulls seat is locked down. Hadjar is widely tipped to make the jump to Red Bull next year, and Tsunoda’s future is a moving target amid whispers of a Honda-flavoured Aston Martin role. That would still leave both Racing Bulls cockpits open, and Lawson’s stock as a known quantity is valuable — particularly when the next wave of juniors is still ripening.
Arvid Lindblad is closest in the queue, with Alex Dunne also attracting Helmut Marko’s attention. Dunne’s super licence math remains the sticking point; he needs a top-three finish in F2 to hit the 40-point threshold, and he’s currently on the outside of that. None of this helps Lawson get an answer any sooner, and Red Bull has shown no appetite to rush. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Lawson lived the same purgatory last winter.
He takes it on the chin, because he’s had to. “Unless you’re on multi-year contracts — and even then — nothing’s guaranteed,” he said. “The only time you’re secure is when you’re performing. That’s what it’s like in this sport, and in this programme. It’s the same pressure, just on a bigger scale.”
For now, Lawson’s remit is clear enough: score points, keep the car tidy, and push Racing Bulls toward their Constructors’ target. He hasn’t been handed a checklist from Red Bull HQ, and he doesn’t need one. “It’s nothing in particular, other than just scoring points and having good races,” he said. “We’re fighting for P6 in the Constructors’. If we achieve that, naturally, I’ve probably done my job.”
On the 2026 front, Lawson is already doing the early legwork with Racing Bulls on the new regulations. Nothing heavy yet, just the initial groundwork that falls to whoever’s currently in the seat. If the Red Bull dominoes fall another way, those plans will change. Everyone knows how this works.
What’s interesting is how the past year has sharpened Lawson’s edge without damping his optimism. The rhythm is better now — more known tracks on the calendar, a garage that speaks his language, and a car reshaped around what he needs after that whiplash return post-Suzuka. The pace has crept up, the weekends look cleaner, and you can sense the comfort in how he races wheel-to-wheel.
Is he enjoying it? That’s complicated. “You enjoy the good moments,” he said. “Baku was a great result and I was super stoked for the team. But within a few hours, you’re already focused on the next one. In my position, when I’m trying to secure a seat next year, it’s more natural to be thinking ahead. So there’s probably less enjoyment than you’d expect.”
That’s the reality for a driver trying to carve out a permanent place in the most ruthless system in F1. Lawson doesn’t need telling that the final call might land at Christmas, or later. He also doesn’t need reminding that the most persuasive argument he can make happens on Sunday afternoons.
He’s not out of Red Bull’s orbit. Far from it. He’s just stuck where so many Red Bull juniors have been before him — sat on hold, headset on, waiting for the tone to change.
