Liam Lawson has revealed that he remains uncertain about his future within the Red Bull stable for 2026 approaching the closing stages of the Formula 1 season.
With five races remaining in the ongoing campaign, questions are continuing to circulate about the driver line-ups for both Red Bull and Racing Bulls for next year.
Earlier in the season, Helmut Marko confirmed that Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar will both have seats within the two teams, though the latter is unconfirmed.
With the expectation that Hadjar will partner Verstappen and Arvid Lindblad will graduate to Racing Bulls, Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda are battling to remain on the grid.
However, Lawson has insisted that the pressure remains the same. Therefore, while his future is on the back of his mind, his approach to the season hasn’t changed.
“I mean, for sure, obviously, we know in the back of our minds that it is an important part of the year,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“But to be honest, it’s not really any different to the start. At least the approach doesn’t really change.
“Obviously, every weekend I’m going into it trying to do the best job I can, and I’ll do the same thing this weekend.
“We’ve done all the preparations, and it’s actually a track that I quite enjoy driving. So in terms of the approach, nothing really changes, and then we’ll see.”
When asked whether he thought he had done enough to secure his future, Lawson, who began the campaign with Red Bull’s senior team, responded honestly.
“I think hindsight’s amazing. You always look back on stuff that you’ve done, and you always learn from things,” he answered.
“We’re not perfect. I’m definitely not perfect. For sure, there are things over a season that I’ll look back on and learn from mainly.”
“But I think that’s the main thing – as long as I look back on those mistakes and I learn from them and try not to do them again, that’s the most important thing.
“So I think from that side, yes, I feel like I’ve done everything that I can, and I’ll continue doing that.”
The timing of announcements
Hadjar admitted earlier in the week that he would rather have his future announced at the end of the year so that he could focus on the season at hand.
Lawson admitted that either way, he wouldn’t let it affect how he approaches each week.
“I haven’t thought about that specifically, but I feel like if it were something that was clear and the decision was made, I feel like we probably would know, and maybe that would be better.
“But at the same time, I think the main thing is it just doesn’t really change how we approach each weekend.
“So at the moment, as we’re obviously still waiting on everything that’s going to happen. I think our approaches will just stay the same and try and extract everything out of each weekend.”
Lawson’s competition for the final seat is against Tsunoda, with both drivers having endured stints at Red Bull and Racing Bulls this season.
“I’m just going to drive as fast as I can every time I get in the car. I don’t think that changes too much,” he explained.
“I think obviously it’s a results-based programme. It’s always been performance-based since I joined when I was 16.
“It was always about performing, and then you get promoted and stay in the sport. That’s literally as simple as I can put it.”
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