Lawson future latest as Racing Bulls addresses Verstappen replacement speculation

Alan Permane would not be drawn on whether Liam Lawson is leading the queue to replace Max Verstappen should the world champion opt to leave Red Bull at the end of this season.

Multiple sources told PlanetF1.com that Verstappen was in talks with McLaren, although it seems he is now expected to remain with his “second family” at Red Bull. Verstappen, though, has yet to officially confirm his F1 2027 plans.

Alan Permane addresses Max Verstappen replacement speculation

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Racing Bulls drivers Lawson and Arvid Lindblad are waiting in the wings should Verstappen decide to leave.

Although Oscar Piastri has been linked to the Dutchman’s race seat in what would be a direct swap, Red Bull is a team that more often than not promotes from within.

In all of Red Bull Racing’s years on the grid owning two teams, Red Bull has only twice put a driver who didn’t start at its junior team into the senior outfit – Mark Webber in 2007 and Sergio Perez in 2021.

Permane says he does not know what Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies’ plans are if Verstappen leaves.

“Well, on my team it’ll have no impact because he doesn’t drive for me, so I think that’s a question for Laurent, really,” he said of the reports that Verstappen could switch to McLaren.

“Max doesn’t drive for me, and it’ll be up to Laurent to decide his drivers for next season.

“If he really believes Liam or Arvid is ready to take that challenge, then of course we’ll be right there and ready to support that.

“But I don’t want to speculate on which one it could be, or if Max moves to another team, would he swap with a driver from another team.

“I think there are too many unknowns.”

Although Verstappen has a contract that runs through to the end of F1 2028, the 28-year-old is understood to have a clause that he could activate on the Sunday evening after the Hungarian Grand Prix as he wasn’t in the top two positions in the championship.

Permane accepts both Lawson and Lindblad will be vying for Verstappen’s seat if it does become available.

“Well, I think that’s the goal of both our guys, for sure, and the goal of mine and our team is to develop drivers for that team,” said the Racing Bulls team boss.

“I think going into specifics is far more a question for Laurent, but I think we need to put them both in a position where they’re ready to do that.

“If and when Laurent needs another driver, he’s got one or two to choose from.”

Lawson was briefly a Red Bull driver last season, but his time with the team was cut short after two Grand Prix weekends as then Red Bull team principal Christian Horner claimed it was the team’s “duty of care to protect” Lawson, who was “struggling”.

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Lawson, though, says that could not have been further from the truth.

“The whole thing was played out to be me being mentally struggling and all this stuff, and like they were doing it to protect me,” he told the High Performance podcast in June.

“That honestly just could not be further from what it was actually like.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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