This Dutch Grand Prix weekend will be Liam Lawson’s one last shot at showing his chops to former employer Red Bull Racing. Technically, it’s actually his third shot.
The New Zealand driver has been a mainstay in the Red Bull family.
Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson have been part of the Red Bull carousel. Getty Images
He moved up through the junior academy ranks, earned a promotion to F1 with the junior squad Racing Bulls at the expense of Daniel Ricciardo and was subsequently fast-tracked to the senior team at Red Bull Racing for the 2025 season.
However, just two races later the dream was stamped out as Lawson was demoted back to Racing Bulls where he now sits as a veteran of the team.
When news of Isack Hadjar’s broken wrist injury during the summer lockdown broke, Lawson has now suddenly been handed a golden third chance to put his best foot forward in the big leagues.
“Hadjar has sustained a wrist injury during summer shutdown that will prevent him from racing at the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix,” said a Red Bull statement.
“We will be welcoming back Lawson who will replace him in RB22 this weekend. The team wishes Isack a speedy recovery and thank Liam for stepping in on short notice.”
The infamous Red Bull driver conveyor belt continues to spin.
Yuki Tsunoda now steps into Lawson’s vacant seat in the Racing Bulls team.
This is the driver who originally replaced Lawson in the senior Red Bull team in 2025, before being axed completely from the sport at the end of that year. The Japanese driver has been warming the reserve seat duties all year.
Red Bull has hardly cultivated a reputation as a forgiving environment in recent years.
Their ruthless shuffling of their drivers has generated headlines for both the right and wrong reasons. They’ve now begun a fight for the four coveted seats again, with a new junior rookie in the picture.
Nikola Tsolov leads the junior Formula 2 championship and is lingering on the fringes of Formula 1, eyeing a Racing Bulls seat with vigour for the 2027 season.
This means that either rookie Arvid Lindblad or Lawson could easily be shoved out, both drivers out of contract at the end of 2026.
However, if Lawson can deliver an improved level of consistency and pace, the team’s decision won’t be as easy as in previous years.
It could even be Hadjar who finds himself getting the short end of the stick.
The French-Algerian driver is also out of contract in 2026 and could potentially face the same fate as his predecessor Tsunoda, pushed out of the sport altogether.
In a strange twist of fate, this isn’t even the first time Lawson has jumped in to replace a driver with a broken wrist.
Aussie F1 hero Ricciardo inadvertently gave Lawson his first taste of F1 action during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend in 2023 after breaking his wrist during practice.
The challenge ahead is steep. The 2026 regulation car is said to be vastly different from the 2025 machinery Lawson drove during his brief two-week stint before being ousted for Tsunoda.
Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson are teammates in 2026. LAT Images
The lingering question is whether Red Bull will continue their maniacal tradition of discarding drivers right on the precipice of a breakthrough, or if they will flip the script and finally give them the time required to feel comfortable in the car.
Hadjar hasn’t dazzled in the RB22, but he’s been consistently strong and kept his nose clean, sitting eighth in the drivers’ championship.
But if Hadjar’s injury is worse than anticipated, and he needs to miss more races than just one, he’s handing his rival an even bigger advantage.
Either way, Lawson knows all too well that his chance at Red Bull seniority might just be on the cusp of being handed back to him.