Red Bull and Racing Bulls are switching it up for 2026, with Isack Hadjar stepping up to Red Bull and Arvid Lindblad earning his F1 debut with Racing Bulls. Liam Lawson keeps his Racing Bulls seat while Yuki Tsunoda is sent back to the bench. F1 Correspondent Lawrence Barretto looks at the key questions surrounding the news…
Why did Red Bull promote Hadjar?
Isack Hadjar’s life in F1 got off to a bumpy start after he crashed on the formation lap of the season opening Australian Grand Prix, leading to criticism from Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko.
But he didn’t let that faze him and instead went on to build out an outstanding rookie season, which has seen him score points in 10 Grands Prix so far this season. That includes three top-six finishes (which would have been four without a puncture in Qatar), of which one was a stunning maiden podium in the Dutch Grand Prix.
As Yuki Tsunoda became the latest driver to struggle to get to grips with the Red Bull in the second seat alongside Max Verstappen, the chances of Hadjar stepping up from next season increased heavily.
It’s the Red Bull way to get thrown in at the deep end and you either sink or swim. If it’s the latter, Red Bull don’t see the point in hanging about and would prefer to promote as soon as is feasible.
With Hadjar and Tsunoda having such contrasting seasons – and Hadjar building in confidence both on and off track – Red Bull decided he was ready for the works team and didn’t need a second season in Racing Bulls.
Why did Red Bull give Lindblad his debut?
Red Bull made Lindblad a full-time member of their junior programme in 2022 and have since been impressed with his progression, so much so they asked the FIA for special dispensation to get his F1 Superlicence before his 18th birthday so they could start preparing him in an F1 car in testing.
The British racer impressed across three tests in a two-year-old Racing Bull earlier this year, with his performance in the second of two FP1 appearances for Red Bull (Silverstone and Mexico) particularly eye-catching.
Red Bull believe he’s one of the stars of the future and is now ready to make the step up – and as per their mantra, didn’t see the point in hanging about, even if hasn’t been a challenge for the title in his maiden F2 season (he’s currently sixth with one round to go).
The 18-year-old’s raw speed, quality of feedback and impressive and mature nature both on and off the track was enough to convince Red Bull to make him their 20th junior to appear in Formula 1 by running him in Racing Bulls.
Why did Racing Bulls choose to keep Lawson?
It was a straight fight between Lawson and Tsunoda for the second Racing Bulls seat – and it took some time for Red Bull and Racing Bulls senior management to make their decision, hence the delay in announcing until this week.
Red Bull were keen to give Tsunoda, competing in his fifth season, and Lawson, racing in his first full campaign, as long as possible to prove they deserved to keep the seat.
It took some time, with Tsunoda starting to show flashes of a breakthrough – including outqualifying team mate Max Verstappen in the Qatar Sprint – while Lawson has improved his consistency and delivered in some very challenging conditions, such as in Baku and Las Vegas Qualifying.
Ultimately, senior management felt that Tsunoda didn’t do enough (he’s scored 33 points to Verstappen’s 396 so far this year, with three of those taken at the wheel of a Racing Bulls car) while they believe Lawson’s form this year, the way he responded to being dropped by Red Bull and his ultimate potential was enough to keep him in the race seat for next year.
What happens to Tsunoda?
Red Bull are keeping Tsunoda in the family as the reserve driver for both the works operation and Racing Bulls.
Tsunoda will then hope to regroup and either hope to find a way back into one of Red Bull’s four Formula 1 seats during the season or the following year – or start exploring opportunities elsewhere on the grid for 2027.
In recent years, Tsunoda has been linked with Haas, Sauber and Alpine, while there could be a future opportunity with Aston Martin as he is backed by Honda, who will become the British team’s work power unit partner next year.
And what of Max Verstappen?
Verstappen will be the team leader at Red Bull for what will be his 11th season with the squad – and he’s got a contract until the end of 2028.
There was speculation earlier this year that he might leave, but he committed to racing for the team next year.
For now, he’s focused on trying to win a fifth consecutive championship in Abu Dhabi this weekend before switching his attention to helping the team tackle the new chassis and power unit regulations introduced in 2026.
