Racing Bulls explain delay as Liam Lawson sweats over F1 future

Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane has explained the delay in announcing the teams 2026 driver line-up, as Liam Lawson sweats over his future.

Of the four seats Red Bull controls in F1, only Max Verstappen is officially confirmed for next season, with current Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar widely expected to be promoted to join the Dutchman in the senior team.

That leaves Lawson, current Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda, and F2 protege Arvid Lindblad in the frame for the two Racing Bulls seats, with the team currently in sixth place in the constructors', just 10 ahead of Aston Martin and 12 ahead of a resurgent Haas.

For 2026, there are also sweeping changes set to be made to the architecture of the cars as Permane indicated when a decision could be made.

When asked by media, including RacingNews365, if the delay in naming the driver pairing was due to the new regulations coming in, Permane rejected the notion. 

“No, not at all. It's nothing to do with the new regulations. We are in a very tight battle ourselves [for sixth], but also, Red Bull are in a very tight battle in their Constructors' Championship [battle for second].

“We just want to have some stability, and that may well go on right until the end of the season. So you may not find out until Monday morning after Abu Dhabi. 

“I don't know exactly when it’ll be, but that’s the reason. It's nothing to do with next year's rules.” 

Then, pressed on whether experience would be key given the scale of the new rules, Permane indicated it would be. 
 
“You always want the experienced driver. We see with James [Vowles and Williams] and his two super-experienced drivers, they hit the ground running pretty much every weekend. 

“And that’s not to take anything away from our guys, but experience always counts. Nothing beats pace, obviously. So you have to have that pace there. It will undoubtedly help for next year. 

“On the other hand, you could look at it and say, well, everyone’s starting from a clean sheet of paper. No one has experienced these regulations. So I suspect there’ll be a huge amount of simulator work being done – it’s ongoing now – and once the season finishes, that will only ramp up. So yeah, it definitely is important.”