So, you’ve probably seen the headlines about Liam Lawson and that revolving door over at Red Bull. It’s a mess, honestly. One day he’s the next golden boy, and the next, he’s getting "cruelly" demoted back to the junior squad. If you’re trying to keep track of who is actually driving what in 2026, you aren't alone in being totally confused.
F1 is a brutal business. We like to think it’s about pure speed, but with the Red Bull family, it’s mostly about survival. Liam Lawson has basically lived three different careers in the span of about eighteen months.
The Liam Lawson Red Bull Rollercoaster
Let’s look at the facts. In early 2025, Lawson actually got what he wanted. He was promoted to the big team—Red Bull Racing—to partner with Max Verstappen. It was supposed to be his big break. But it lasted exactly two races. Two.
Christian Horner later called it "cruel to be kind," but let’s be real: it was a disaster. The car, the RB21, was a nightmare to drive. Even Verstappen was complaining about it constantly. Lawson, coming in with huge expectations, couldn't get a handle on a car that was basically trying to spin off the track every three corners. He failed to get out of Q1 in both Australia and China.
Red Bull doesn't do "patience." They swapped him out for Yuki Tsunoda immediately after China.
Most drivers would have just packed it in at that point. Getting demoted from the top team in the middle of a season is usually a career death sentence. Just ask Pierre Gasly or Alex Albon about how much that hurts. But Lawson is kinda different. He didn't go away. He went back to the sister team—Racing Bulls (VCARB)—and started putting in some of the gutsiest drives we've seen in the midfield.
That 2025 Comeback
Honestly, the second half of 2025 is why Liam Lawson is still on the grid for 2026. While everyone was looking at Verstappen’s title fight, Lawson was quietly dragging a mediocre Racing Bulls car into the points nearly every weekend.
- Austria: Finished P6 (his best at the time).
- Azerbaijan: Finished P5 after a chaotic race where he just out-braked everyone.
- Brazil: P7 in the rain, which is always the true test of a driver.
He ended up scoring points in seven different Grands Prix. That’s why, even though Helmut Marko called him "inconsistent" in late 2025, the team couldn't justify firing him. He had become the ultimate midfield survivor.
What's actually happening in 2026?
We finally have the official word as of January 2026. The "Detroit Launch" just happened, and it cleared up the massive game of musical chairs that's been happening behind the scenes.
Here is the 2026 reality:
Liam Lawson is staying at Racing Bulls. He’s not moving up to the main team. That seat alongside Verstappen is going to Isack Hadjar, the Frenchman who Red Bull is currently obsessed with. Lawson is now the "senior" driver at the junior team. His teammate for 2026 is Arvid Lindblad, an 18-year-old rookie who is the only new face on the entire F1 grid this year.
It’s a weird spot for Liam. He’s 23, which is "old" in Red Bull junior years, and he’s effectively being used as a benchmark for the next generation. But there’s a massive technical shift happening right now that makes his seat more important than it looks.
The Ford Factor
2026 isn't just another season. It’s the year of the big engine reset. Red Bull and Racing Bulls are moving away from Honda and using their own engines—Red Bull Ford Powertrains.
This is huge. For the first time, the sister team isn't just a dumping ground for juniors; it’s a development lab for a brand-new engine. Lawson’s experience is actually valuable here. He’s already done the "sacrificial" work, like in China 2025 when they started him from the pits just to test "radical" setup changes to help the factory.
That kind of team-player attitude is why he survived the cull that saw Yuki Tsunoda lose his seat entirely.
Why the Red Bull seat is so hard to keep
People keep asking why Lawson didn't get a second chance at the main team for 2026. The answer is simple: Max Verstappen.
The senior Red Bull seat is a career-killer. Since Daniel Ricciardo left years ago, nobody has been able to stay close to Max without losing their mind. Gasly, Albon, Perez, and now Lawson—they all struggled with a car that is built specifically for Max’s "pointy" driving style.
If you aren't within two-tenths of Max in qualifying, you are basically invisible to the management. Lawson found that out the hard way in early 2025. By staying at Racing Bulls for 2026, he actually has a chance to build his own reputation in a car that isn't designed for a four-time world champion.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you're following the Liam Lawson Red Bull saga this season, keep these things in mind to understand what’s actually going on:
- Watch the Lindblad Gap: Lawson’s primary job in 2026 is to beat Arvid Lindblad. If the rookie starts out-qualifying him, Lawson is done. Red Bull is looking for the next superstar, not a steady hand.
- Reliability is the New Speed: With the new Ford power units, finishing the race is going to be half the battle. Lawson’s ability to bring a broken car home (like he did in China with the cooling issues) is his biggest asset right now.
- The Contract Window: Lawson is safe for 2026, but he’s basically on a one-year audition. If Hadjar struggles next to Max, Lawson is the only person with the experience to step up. But if he underperforms, there’s a long line of juniors in F2 waiting to take that VCARB seat.
It's sort of a "purgatory" for him. He's too good to be fired, but he's currently blocked from the top. For a kid from Pukekohe, New Zealand, just staying on the grid is an achievement, but 2026 will determine if he’s a career mid-fielder or a future champion.
Keep an eye on the early season testing in Bahrain. That's where we'll see if the Ford engine is a rocket or a paperweight. If it's fast, Lawson might finally get the podium he's been chasing since 2023.
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To stay ahead of the curve, focus on Lawson's long-run pace during Friday practice sessions; that's where he usually shines and proves his value to the engineers, even if the headline qualifying times aren't always there. If he can maintain a "top 10" presence in the championship standings through the first five rounds of 2026, he becomes a very valuable commodity for the 2027 driver market, potentially even outside the Red Bull family.