Formula 1 rookie Isack Hadjar will replace Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull in 2026, while Liam Lawson will continue at junior team Racing Bulls alongside exciting teenage prospect Arvid Lindblad.
Hadjar’s hugely impressive first Formula 1 season at Racing Bulls, which included a podium at the Dutch Grand Prix, has earned him the spot as Max Verstappen’s teammate next season.
Tsunoda will be made Red Bull test and reserve driver, meaning the popular Japanese driver will stay within the company orbit but without a racing role.
Due to the way the company’s driver contracts work he will be on stand-by to replace any of the four drivers across either team should they be unfit to compete at a weekend.
Red Bull’s move shows huge faith in Hadjar and Lindblad as the sport moves into a new rules cycle, with sweeping regulation changes on the aerodynamic and engine side of the car.
Red Bull will be building its own engines from next year onwards following the end to its title-winning partnership with Honda, a long-time backer of Tsunoda.
Tsunoda’s Honda ties helped him replace the underperforming Lawson after just two races of the season in April but his long-awaited dream move quickly soured.
Like Lawson, Sergio Pérez, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly before him, Tsunoda ultimately struggled as Verstappen’s teammate. He has 33 points in 15th ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where Verstappen is still in championship contention with McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Red Bull clearly does not expect the same from Hadjar but the company’s trigger-happy habit of quick promotions will be under the microscope again should the Frenchman follow in the footsteps of his predecessors alongside Verstappen.
Despite an demotion that at the time many thought would essentially be career-ending, Lawson has been handed a lifeline with another season at the junior team.
Lawson will partner British-Swedish driver Lindblad, who only turned 18 in August. The much-hyped Linbdlad had a mixed rookie Formula 2 season, where he is currently sixth in the championship.
Sources have told ESPN Lindblad’s promotion has been set in stone for months, while Hadjar’s promotion to the senior team has been all but certain for a while now too.
That created an difficult conundrum for Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies, who replaced Christian Horner at the team in July, as he and Red Bull pondered what to do with the remaining seat at the junior team.
Mekies worked with Hadjar in the first half of this year and with Tsunoda and Lawson in his previous role as Racing Bulls boss and remains a fan of both driver’s abilities.
Red Bull and Racing Bulls have essentially spent the last few months working out which of the two to keep at the junior team. Red Bull has been impressed with how Lawson handled that situation and it is understood his form since, especially in the second half of the year, massively helped his chances of staying.
There is also a strong feeling internally that Lawson has not been given all the conditions required to thrive by the company’s decisions around his career.
Despite racing in Formula 1 across three seasons, the New Zealander has never completed a full season in normal circumstances — he was injury stand-in for Daniel Ricciardo at a handful of races in 2023, before replacing the Australian at the following year’s Singapore Grand Prix. He replaced Pérez at Red Bull this year, only to be hastily demoted again after two poor showings.
ESPN understands Red Bull made the announcement ahead of the final race of the year as there was a push internally to avoid the messy PR situation which followed Ricciardo’s exit last year.
Ricciardo had a tearful exit in Singapore, where Red Bull and Racing Bulls had essentially left his future up in the air publicly despite having already made a decision that he was out and Lawson was in after that weekend’s race.
