Lawson says 2026 Red Bull seat not his focus, Racing Bulls 2025

Liam Lawson says he is not allowing hopes of a 2026 Red Bull Racing seat to distract him from delivering results this year, as he continues to rebuild his form with Red Bull’s sister outfit, Racing Bulls. After a challenging start that saw him relegated from the senior squad following two races in 2025, Lawson has collected 20 points since returning to the Faenza-based team, including a career-best sixth place at the Austrian Grand Prix. He is now focused on maximizing the present, insisting that the future can wait until his current season is fully realized.

Lawson’s promotion to Red Bull to partner Max Verstappen for the 2025 season was short-lived. The New Zealander failed to score a point in either of his first two races, qualifying poorly in Australia and China before Red Bull replaced him with Yuki Tsunoda and moved Lawson back to Racing Bulls. The decision, described by team officials as a pursuit of a longer-term trajectory, followed a string of underwhelming results that began with Lawson’s inability to escape Q1 in both races and culminated in few points for the team. While Verstappen continued to contend at the front, Lawson’s time in the premier team became a focal...