Can Liam Lawson keep his Racing Bulls seat for 2027?
Andrew Benson examined Liam Lawson's chances of holding his Racing Bulls drive for the 2027 season in a BBC Sport F1 Q&A published on 11 August 2026 as Formula 1 prepares to race at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort from 21-23 August. The piece notes Lawson sits ninth in the drivers' championship and has been described as the 'best of the rest' behind drivers from the top four teams.
Racing Bulls are estimated to have the fifth-quickest car on average this season, and Lawson is the more experienced of the team's two race drivers. His team-mate Arvid Lindblad, a rookie in 2026, is already matching him closely in performance. Lindblad trails Lawson by 20 points in the championship, but in qualifying head-to-head where a fair comparison can be made Lawson leads 6-5 while Lindblad is fractionally quicker on average by 0.017secs.
Team principal Alan Permane is quoted saying the team have "two quick guys" who are "incredibly close" in performance, and he emphasises the organisation's aim to "develop drivers" for Red Bull. Benson reports that on pure pace there is little to choose between Lawson and Lindblad, a point that frames the assessment of Lawson's prospects within the team.
Benson recounts Lawson's earlier stint with Red Bull in 2025, saying he suffered two poor races alongside Max Verstappen at the start of that season, after which Red Bull demoted him back to Racing Bulls and swapped him with Yuki Tsunoda. Once returned to Racing Bulls, Lawson was "pretty comfortably beaten" by Isack Hadjar, whom Red Bull promoted ahead of Tsunoda following Hadjar's stronger 2025 form.
The article contrasts the previous Red Bull leadership and the current regime, stating that "if Red Bull were still run by the old regime of Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, there would be no hope of Lawson getting another chance in the senior team." It adds that the approach of the new leadership — Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies and the soon-to-be head of the young driver programme Gwen Lagrue — and how they view Lawson "remains to be seen."
Separately, Benson explains how sprint race locations are decided: Formula 1, as the commercial rights holder, chooses the venues and the FIA formally approves the calendar. He notes commercial and sporting factors are considered, that tracks must pay more to host a sprint, and that F1 says it would not accept payment if it judged the venue unsuitable. Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle is quoted: "We felt it was well worth the additional cost [on the race fee] to give more action," and Benson cites attendance figures of 500,000 spectators at the British Grand Prix in 2025 and 564,000 in 2026, saying the extra 64,000 was primarily on Friday and Saturday and attributed to the sprint.
How Lawson fares in the remainder of 2026 and whether he keeps his seat into 2027 will depend in part on his intra-team comparisons and on the decisions of Red Bull's new leadership, a stance Benson summarises by saying the situation "remains to be seen." Formula 1 returns to action at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort from 21-23 August, where Lawson and Racing Bulls will have the next opportunity to influence his prospects.