Red Bull Racing have a huge decision to make at the end of this season when it comes to their driver pairing.
Team principal Laurent Mekies will be relieved that he can at least rely on Max Verstappen for one more season.
Verstappen may not be in contention for the drivers’ championship, but he’s managed to nick two victories off McLaren this year and looks good to finish third behind Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris despite Red Bull’s struggles.
Those struggles have been typified by what’s happening on the other side of the garage.
Yuki Tsunoda is averaging less than one point per race weekend since his Racing Bulls promotion, leaving him very vulnerable to being replaced.
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Isack Hadjar has emerged as Red Bull’s favoured candidate to replace Tsunoda, but that doesn’t mean that a deal has necessarily been confirmed.
Journalist Chris Medland believes that Red Bull still haven’t ‘totally’ ruled out a return for Liam Lawson after a recent upturn in form.
The New Zealander, who has five DNFs to his name throughout his F1 career, was unfortunate to miss out on points at the Dutch Grand Prix after scuffling with Carlos Sainz.
It would have been a worthy reward for his form over the past few races where he’s got the better of Hadjar after a slow start following his Red Bull demotion.
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Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 309 2 275 3 205 4 184 5 151 6 109 7 64 8 64 9 37 10 37 11 32 12 30 13 28 14 20 15 20 16 16 Liam Lawson is not ‘totally out of the frame’ for 2026 Red Bull return
Medland was speaking on the Pit Pass F1 Podcast and talking about the Red Bull driver conundrum, he said: “I think this will be the weekend that counts as the really big one for Isack Hadjar this season as well.
“His rookie campaign has been very impressive ever since Melbourne, where he crashed on the formation lap in the wet, and didn’t even start his first Grand Prix.
“Well, he admitted then that in his head that his life was over because of the mistake he’d made, and he hadn’t got to start that race.
“And he’s gone from there to feeling like he’s over the move, because he finished third today and got his first podium, and it was a brilliant performance.
“A lot of people are now linking Hadjar with the Red Bull seat next year.
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“There’s certainly a chance he could get in there, that’s a seat that is open, but I still think there’s a long way to go and Red Bull will leave it late to make that decision and will not want to make the same mistakes it made in the past of burning good, young talents.
“So, Liam Lawson, I don’t think he is totally out of the frame of going back up there.
“He was actually having a solid day too before a collision with Carlos Sainz, which gave him a puncture and took him out of the running for points.”
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Liam Lawson ‘bouncing’ ahead of Monza after Isack Hadjar’s Dutch Grand Prix podium
Lawson has been racing at Monza since 2019, when he won at the circuit during his Euroformula Open Championship campaign.
He featured on the podium at the Italian Grand Prix that year in Formula 3, and scored points at the circuit on three occasions during his F2 career.
His only previous appearance at the track in Formula 1 was in 2023 in just his second ever race, where he narrowly missed out on the points after finishing 11th.
CategoryIsack HadjarLiam Lawson2025 points3720Grand Prix results94Grand Prix qualifying103Grand Prix wins00Grand Prix poles00Grand Prix podiums10Best finish3rd6thRetirements13Retirements (classified finish)00Fastest laps00Grand Prix points finishes64Sprint results11Sprint Qualifying20Sprint wins00Sprint poles00Sprint podiums00The 2025 F1 teammate head-to-head battle of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson
Talking to Racing Bulls in their official pre-race preview, Lawson said: “It’s very exciting to be part of the second home race for the team this year, bouncing off a huge weekend for the team with Isack on the podium.
“It’s very exciting to be part of the second home race for the team this year, bouncing off a huge weekend for the team with Isack on the podium.
“The car has been very fast recently, which is really positive, so I’m excited to take that momentum forward.
“Monza is a track which we’ve all raced on growing up. It has a lot of history, so it’s going to be great to return.”
The 23-year-old will hope that a strong set of results leading up to the end of the season could put him back in contention to return to Red Bull.
Tsunoda’s 2025 campaign has shown that he deserved more time in an extremely difficult-to-drive car, and next year’s regulation changes could be the catalyst for Lawson’s Red Bull career getting back on track.