Liam Lawson will return to Racing Bulls for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a three-race stint deputizing for injured Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar, with the 24-year-old New Zealander saying the experience changed little about his outlook heading into the final stretch of the season.
Hadjar’s return to race fitness ends Lawson’s unexpected run in the senior Red Bull machinery, which produced a seventh-place finish in Zandvoort and sixth in Madrid, sandwiched around a frustrating 14th at Monza. Lawson said he was satisfied with the overall outcome, despite acknowledging room for improvement.
“Mostly,” Lawson said when asked if he was happy with the stint. “You always look at stuff and go, ‘What could I have done better?’ And there’s definitely things in there that could have been better. But considering a lot of the circumstances, honestly, I was pretty happy overall. I think two of the weekends were strong.”
Lawson was demoted from Red Bull after just two outings in 2025, a chapter he said did not shake his self-belief. He downplayed the narrative that his recent performances served as a statement to the paddock. “For me, I didn’t come out of last year and question my ability to drive a race car,” he said. “So it’s nice that I’ve been able to obviously have those races and maybe show the rest of the world. But it didn’t change anything for me, to be honest.”
On the technical crossover between the two cars, Lawson was direct: the Red Bull RB and the VCARB 03 demand fundamentally different approaches. “The only comparable part is really the powertrain,” he said, noting that operational observations from the Red Bull garage offered the most transferable lessons.
Hadjar’s return to Baku coincides with confirmation that the French driver has secured his Red Bull seat through 2027. Lawson said the announcement did not catch him off guard. “I wasn’t meant to drive this year at Red Bull,” he said. “So it was great to do those races, it was challenging, honestly. But it didn’t really change anything that I was thinking outside of that for next year.”
Lawson’s own future at Racing Bulls remains unresolved, with F2 frontrunner Nikola Tsolov widely regarded as next in line for a Red Bull junior promotion. Lawson expects clarity within the coming races. “Probably soon,” he said. “This time of year is obviously when all of these decisions get made.”
Despite the uncertainty, Lawson said his consistency in 2026 has left him in a stronger position than a year ago. “I feel in a better position than I have done in the past,” he said. “Last year was definitely more difficult. It was more difficult to have sort of the consistency of results that this year we managed to honestly find.”