Red Bull Racing confirmed Friday it will field Liam Lawson alongside Yuki Tsunoda for the 2026 Formula One season, ending speculation the team would pursue Carlos Sainz or another free agent. The New Zealander, 24, returns after a five-race substitute stint in 2023 that netted 2 points and impressed team principal Christian Horner enough to keep him under contract.
The move locks in Red Bull's driver lineup for the first year of new power unit regulations, when Honda returns as a works partner and the grid resets around lighter, more aerodynamically sensitive machinery. Lawson last raced competitively in October 2023, replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri. He qualified 13th on debut in Austin and finished 13th in Qatar, close enough to the points to warrant another look. Red Bull kept him on the reserve bench through 2024 and 2025, running him in three Friday practice sessions across European rounds.
The decision matters because Red Bull is no longer shopping. When Sainz left Ferrari in June, paddock consensus assumed Milton Keynes would make a run at the Spaniard, who has 4 wins and 24 podiums since 2021. Instead, the team doubled down on its junior program. That tells sponsors and technical partners two things: Red Bull believes its scouting infrastructure still works, and it is not preparing for Max Verstappen's departure. Verstappen's contract runs through 2028, but Mercedes made quiet inquiries in Monaco during his public frustration over team orders. If Red Bull thought Verstappen might walk, it would have signed Sainz. It signed Lawson.
Tsunoda's retention is the quieter signal. The Japanese driver has 8 points through the first 12 rounds of 2025, good for 16th in the championship, but his pace in wet conditions at Spa and Suzuka kept him in the conversation. Honda's return as a factory partner in 2026 made dropping him politically expensive. Tsunoda brings ¥2.8 billion ($19 million) in annual Japanese sponsor revenue, per team filings, and Honda's technical collaboration deepens when the new power units debut. Red Bull could have moved him back to the junior team; instead, it kept him in the senior car, which suggests the 2026 rulebook favors his driving style—short braking zones, high minimum speeds, less emphasis on raw straightline deployment.
The contract structure is standard Red Bull. Both drivers signed two-year deals with team options for 2028, meaning the team can evaluate them against the 2027 rookie class without penalty. If Lawson struggles in the first six races of 2026, Red Bull can promote Isack Hadjar or Ayumu Iwasa mid-season under the terms negotiated this week. The team has done this four times since 2019, most recently with Ricciardo in 2023. The option clauses are non-negotiable. Lawson's management, led by Nicolas Todt, tried to secure a three-year guaranteed term during June negotiations and was told no.
What makes this different from Red Bull's previous recalls is the power unit timing. The 2026 regulations strip 130 kilograms of minimum weight, increase electrical deployment to 350 kilowatts, and limit fuel flow to force more battery reliance in slow corners. Teams that get the energy management wrong will lose 0.8 seconds per lap, according to simulations shared during July's technical working group meeting in Brackley. Honda is building its first full works engine since 2021, and Red Bull is integrating it without Adrian Newey, who left for Aston Martin in April. The team needs drivers who can give clean feedback on deployment maps and battery degradation, not veterans who will second-guess the engineers. Lawson fits that profile. Tsunoda already has 48 race starts worth of telemetry data for Honda to model.
Teams looking for mid-season driver availability in 2026 should assume both Red Bull seats are locked. The option clauses reset at the Austrian Grand Prix, June 28, which means any dissatisfaction will show up in Spielberg contract talks, not before. If Lawson underperforms in the first eight races, Red Bull will promote internally rather than raid another team. That closes one of the last senior grid slots for 2026 and pushes drivers like Mick Schumacher and Stoffel Vandoorne further from realistic options.
The announcement will be made official at Zandvoort during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, August 22-24, where Red Bull typically unveils driver decisions in front of Verstappen's home crowd. Lawson will attend the Thursday press conference, and team kit launches are scheduled for September 12 at the Milton Keynes factory, ahead of the Singapore night race.
The takeaway
Red Bull locks its 2026 lineup with Lawson and Tsunoda, signaling confidence in Verstappen's long-term commitment and closing a senior grid slot.
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