Liam Lawson’s future with Racing Bulls to be revealed following Qatar GP

Red Bull Racing’s team Principle Laurent Mekies has revealed the team will announce its driver line-up for the 2026 season following this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix. 

It was previously reported that Helmut Marko estimated the line-up would be revealed after the Abu Dhabi GP, but Mekies advised otherwise in Las Vegas. 

“Just one more week of patience,” Mekies told Autoracing1.com in an interview. 

Though Max Verstappen has arguably the safest seat in the sport (maybe behind Lance Stroll), and Isack Hadjar is poised to take Red Bull’s second seat, the big question mark is over the Racing Bulls seats. 

Considering Lawson’s performance at Racing Bulls, it would be a surprise to see him leave the team, and claims of him becoming a mentor to future drivers in the team only back this up. 

It’s likely Arvid Lindblad will take the second Racing Bulls seat alongside Lawson, and will likely be the driver that Liam will mentor throughout the 2026 season. 

This puts all the attention on Yuki Tsunoda, who risks being left without an F1 drive next year. 

Speaking with Autoracing1.com in Las Vegas, Tsunoda admitted that he’s “nervous” about his future in the sport. 

“It’s just a similar situation as last year or even two years ago, so to be honest, I got used to it. That’s part of Formula 1,” Tsunoda said.

“The good thing is I had experience with that situation a lot of times. I know what I have to do for the next few races. In the end, those decisions I can’t control, right?”

Failing a Red Bull seat, it seems Tsunoda’s best chance of staying in the sport will be as a reserve driver with Aston Martin.