Lawson’s Form Poses Dilemma for Racing Bulls
Racing Bulls are chasing the biggest payday in their history, and Liam Lawson is the one dragging them towards it.
The team sits in the thick of a fierce fight for fifth in the constructors’ championship, a position that could be worth around $180 million and would mark their best-ever finish. Of the 106 points they’ve amassed, Lawson has delivered the bulk. He has become the form driver in a car that was never meant to live this high up the grid.
And yet, in the paddock, the whisper is the same: Lawson out, Nikola Tsolov in.
There is still no announcement on the team’s future line-up. No confirmation, no clarity. Just a growing sense that Lawson could be shuffled aside at the end of the season to make room for the highly rated Tsolov, the latest product of Red Bull’s relentless young driver machine.
Interlagos Tension
At Interlagos, that tension finally spilled into the open.
Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz bumped into Racing Bulls’ sporting director Alan Permane after qualifying and didn’t bother hiding his disbelief.
“They can’t sack him now, can they?” Kravitz called after him.
Kravitz pointed to the numbers. Twenty-four points in Lawson’s last four races. Third on the grid in a Racing Bulls at one of the calendar’s most demanding circuits. Performances that usually secure futures, not jeopardise them.
“Even if Nikola Tsolov is Max Verstappen, Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso rolled into one, where’s the harm in giving Tsolov another year to cement himself as a Formula One driver, as a reserve?” Kravitz argued, making the case so many in the paddock are quietly thinking.
The logic is simple: keep Lawson in the race seat, let Tsolov grow without the pressure cooker of a full-time drive. Hand him all the FP1 sessions he can handle, build a bespoke racing programme around him, let his development breathe. Red Bull have never been short of track time or opportunity for their prospects; what they’ve sometimes lacked is patience.
Permane's Comments
Permane, speaking to media on Saturday (NZT) after his own contract extension was confirmed, acknowledged that very criticism while explaining the delay over Racing Bulls’ 2027 line-up.
“I’m not going to give you a date,” he said. “Red Bull has a very successful young driver programme.
“I don’t want to be critical of it, but I think if [media] are critical of it, maybe sometimes drivers haven’t been able to have enough time to settle.
“Some snap decisions have been made. We’re trying to apply a little bit of science, and that takes some time. We’re looking at everything and studying, analysing.”
This is where the story twists. The team famed for ruthless, rapid calls now wants to slow down.
“Time is on our side. We’re not in a rush to do anything. I’m very confident the right decision will be made,” Permane insisted.
He knows the uncertainty grates. On Lawson. On Tsolov. On everyone watching.
“I realise it’s frustrating for our drivers, I realise it’s frustrating for everyone else. But we want to get it right – we will get it right.
“I’m sure when we announce it in the coming weeks, everyone will be happy.”
That is a bold promise in a paddock where “everyone” is rarely satisfied.
Permane’s voice matters here more than most. Racing Bulls chief executive Peter Bayer underlined that after the Mexico City Grand Prix, where Lawson stormed from the pit lane to ninth on the road before being promoted to seventh. Bayer publicly identified Permane as the man who will ultimately make the call on which driver gets the seat.
Lawson, then, is auditioning in real time for the man who helped shape champions elsewhere. Tsolov, waiting in the wings, represents the future Red Bull system is designed to prioritise.
One has points, momentum and a team’s best-ever finish in his sights. The other has promise and the full weight of a development philosophy behind him.
Soon, Permane will have to decide which matters more.
