Verdict: Liam Lawson dodges torpedo, must plan next move as Red Bull return ruled out

Racing Bulls has announced that Liam Lawson will remain with the team for the F1 2027 season, ending months of speculation over the New Zealander’s future.

Is it the right decision? And what does it mean for the long term? Our writers have their say…

The right call, but hard to see Liam Lawson returning to Red Bull Racing

By Taylor Powling

Even with Helmut Marko’s departure, Racing Bulls’ status as a proving ground for Red Bull’s next generation of racers has remained unchanged, something that the Faenza-based squad’s boss, Alan Permane, was keen to emphasise when asked to comment on the parameters on which the team’s 2027 driver line-up decision would be based upon.

But despite there being a readily-available name waiting in the wings to replace him, Lawson has been retained, which arguably says more about what Red Bull thinks of those around him, given it has taken until this late in the year for him to be extended.

Now, there is no debating that Lawson merits his place on the F1 grid.

The Kiwi has produced an incredible season, and it would have been a travesty to see him be axed.

Liam Lawson vs Arvid Lindblad: Racing Bulls head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

However, even with the more amenable Laurent Mekies at the helm, it is incredibly hard to ever envisage that Lawson will be granted the chance to return to Red Bull’s parent team following his disastrous two-round spell in that environment last season.

Therefore, with Lawson’s long-term future inevitably residing outside the Red Bull stable, it calls into question why Tsolov has not been handed a coveted step up to F1.

Quite simply, it appears that Red Bull doesn’t believe that his talent is big enough to warrant disrupting the healthy dynamic that has emerged at Racing Bulls during 2026.

It also speaks volumes about a lack of trust in Lindblad to take on the mantle of team leader.

The British driver has had a solid rookie campaign, but recent weekends have suggested that he could benefit from another season alongside a more seasoned name, making Racing Bulls’ choice to go for an unchanged line-up the right, and logical, one.

The bitter aftertaste

By Mat Coch

What this whole ordeal has highlighted is a significant power imbalance and how the fate of a driver’s career can fall out of their control.

Deep into November, we only now have clarity on who will be racing with Racing Bulls next year, and ultimately the right decision was made; Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad were the only real option.

Potentially they’ve know that for a while, there had been whispers swirling around for some time, and only communicated now – that’s not uncommon.

But to be this late in the year?

Imagine for a moment the decision had gone the other way; Nikola Tsolov gets the not and Lawson is out on his ear. What happens then?

At this time of the year, there simply aren’t any top line drives available anywhere.

It’s plausible Lawson’s career could have come to a screeching halt not because he hadn’t delivered, but because those who controlled his future dawdled.

Teams have a responsibility to sign and field the best drivers, but they also have a responsibility to their staff (drivers included) to operate in their best interests.

Leaving drivers hanging this late into the year means they’ve little change of securing an F1 berth, even reserve roles are scarce. It’s a similar story in IndyCar, too, and Super Formula. Every open wheel category is pretty well accounted for.

It is why clauses outlining when options must be taken up contain specified time periods, so a driver poised to be overlooked at least has a fighting chance of continuing their career.

And so while the right decision has been made, the way it has come about leaves a sour taste in the mouth; it needn’t have taken this long.

That it did had the potential not just to disrupt a blossoming young career, but completely torpedo it.

Liam Lawson needs to start planning his next move now

By Oliver Harden

He made himself undroppable in the end through the sheer strength of his performances in 2026.

But in a way, this changes nothing for Liam Lawson.

The end date has been pushed back by 12 months, but he remains on borrowed time with his current team.

If he wasn’t already, he needs to start planning his next move now.

With Nikola Tsolov taking a reserve role for 2027, such is Red Bull’s commitment to youth – even in the post-Helmut Marko era – that it seems inevitable that he will graduate to a Formula 1 seat with Racing Bulls within the next 12 months.

Without anything unexpected happening at the senior team – Isack Hadjar’s form falling off a cliff, maybe, or Max Verstappen being badly let down by the 2027 car – Lawson will be the one at risk of making way.

His job now, then, is to make himself as attractive as possible to other teams in the midfield and jump from Racing Bulls before he ends up being pushed.

He will come out of this season with his reputation restored following a humbling 2025.

But there are moments – his over team radio rant at Red Bull in qualifying at Monza, his collision with Verstappen in Mexico practice – that suggest he still has some maturing to do.

Maintaining his current performance level, and finally ironing out those spikier edges, will see a few teams come calling for him for 2028.

Liam Lawson owes Nikola Tsolov a thank you

By Jamie Woodhouse

For sure, Lawson made himself undeniable for that Racing Bulls F1 2027 seat on recent form.

The caveat: Nikola Tsolov’s wobble opened that door.

The Tsolov-shaped alarm bells were ignited for Lawson after the Bulgarian’s stellar first-half to F2 2026. That included a record three consecutive wins.

A winless run of 11 races has followed, clearing a path for Rafael Camara, and some Racing Bulls second guessing, in my opinion.

Ultimately, this is the junior Red Bull F1 team. Had Tsolov continued with that kind of form from earlier in the year, I believe he would have been in that F1 2027 seat alongside Arvid Lindblad, regardless of Lawson’s best efforts.

The New Zealander has found another gear at exactly the right time, exploiting Tsolov’s relevant inability to counter-punch, F2 being in its season break before returning in Qatar.

Yes, the teenager had an FP1 in Mexico that provided important data to Racing Bulls. But it’s not quite the same as performing and being judged in a racing scenario.

As it is, retaining Lawson for next season was absolutely the right move from Racing Bulls.

He just owes Tsolov a debt of gratitude for the assist.

A no-brainer for F1 2026’s third-best driver

By Sam Hall

Signing Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad for another season is, to me, the biggest no-brainer in the history of no-brainer decisions.

Lindblad has been a solid addition to the field in his rookie year and I rank Lawson among the top three performers of the season, behind only Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen.

In any other year, he would be have been in contention for the second Red Bull seat rather than in danger of being out of the sport.

The fact that things were uncertain for this long only shows the regard in which F2 driver Nikola Tsolov is held.

All this said, it would not shock me at all if Lawson leaves the Red Bull family at the end of 2027, perhaps joining Mercedes if George Russell is unable to bounce back from a difficult campaign.

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