Red Bull has officially confirmed that Liam Lawson will remain at Racing Bulls for the 2026 season, in the midst of Yuki Tsunoda losing his F1 seat at Red Bull and the sister team.

Yuki Tsunoda. Photo: RacePictures

Tsunoda out of F1 in 2026

Red Bull has now confirmed what GPblog already wrote: the Austrian team will once again shake up their driver line-ups across the two teams, with Lawson remaining at RB and being joined by Arvid Lindblad from F2.

Red Bull has decided to go for Isack Hadjar as Tsunoda’s replacement.

Tsunoda will remain in the Red Bull family and take up the position of test and reserve driver for 2026.

He will also serve as Racing Bull's reserve driver when Ayu Iwasa cannot make the weekend.

Hadjar is the obvious replacement for Tsunoda, as he sits tenth in the standings, on 51 points.

That is 18 more points than Tsunoda, even though he technically is in an inferior car.

Since Tsunoda was promoted to Red Bull and Lawson demoted to RB, the Japanese driver has struggled to show the team why he should remain.

Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar. Photo: RacePictures

Laurent Mekies, Red Bull team principal, thanked Tsunoda for his hard work for Red Bull and stated he will continue to provide invaluable support to the team.

He said: "Yuki has raced in Red Bull colours for seven years now and I have had the pleasure of working with him at both Red Bull teams.

"Through his five seasons so far in Formula One, Yuki has matured into a complete racer, good over a single lap on Saturday and capable of exceptional starts and excellent race craft on Sunday.

"Everyone in the sport would agree it is impossible not to like Yuki, his personality is infectious, and he has become a very special part of the Red Bull family.

"On behalf of everyone at Red Bull, I thank him for what he has contributed so far and we know he will provide invaluable support to the 2026 projects moving forwards."

What the stats say: Lawson vs Tsunoda

With one race to go in the season, Lawson sits P14 in the Drivers’ standings, on 38 points, five ahead of Tsunoda in P15.

Lawson has also finished highest, a P5 in Baku, where, coincidentally, Tsunoda also achieved his highest finish of the season, P6.

Since the switch was made, Lawson has finished seven times in the top-10 to Tsunoda’s six.

Yuki Tsunoda. Photo: RacePictures

The Kiwi driver has also had the better results in qualifying, beginning the race within the top-10 eight times, including a P3 in Baku.

Tsunoda has only managed to start in the top-10 five times, although he did start P5 in the first race of the season in Australia, when he raced for RB.

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