{"id":625777,"date":"2026-10-09T21:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T21:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/625777\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T21:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T21:46:10","slug":"formula-1-racing-bulls-boss-relaxed-over-decision-to-keep-or-sack-liam-lawson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/625777\/","title":{"rendered":"Formula 1: Racing Bulls boss relaxed over decision to keep or sack Liam Lawson"},"content":{"rendered":"

In June, reports out of Spain linked Red Bull-backed Formula Two driver Nikola Tsolov with Lawson\u2019s seat \u2013 only for Racing Bulls to tell the Herald no decisions had been made when questioned<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Permane has also publicly admitted Tsolov is \u201cnext in line\u201d to step into Formula One with Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n

\"LiamLiam Lawson at the Singapore Grand Prix. Photo \/ AFP<\/p>\n

And while Tsolov\u2019s chances of promotion have taken a hit by losing control of the Formula Two championship to Camara \u2013 potentially freeing him to spend another year in the series \u2013 Permane wouldn\u2019t be drawn on which way the team will lean when making their decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to give you a definite date,\u201d Permane said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not in a rush. I think everyone knows we\u2019ve got two fantastic drivers, we\u2019ve got a fantastic driver in F2 at the moment. They\u2019re all there and ready to go at the moment, but three doesn\u2019t fit into two, of course. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to take a little bit more time and make sure we get the right pairing for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources have also told the Herald that Tsolov will likely replace Ayumu Iwasa as Racing Bulls\u2019 reserve driver<\/a>, potentially alongside a stint in Japanese Super Formula, akin to Lawson\u2019s in 2023.<\/p>\n

Further complicating the matter is Lawson\u2019s form, currently the sport\u2019s \u201cbest of the rest\u201d<\/a> as the highest-placed driver outside of Formula One\u2019s top four teams.<\/p>\n

On top of that, the Herald understands Lawson\u2019s role as Racing Bulls\u2019 team leader is incredibly valuable for the wider Red Bull racing organisation.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Racing Bulls\u2019 identity as Red Bull\u2019s sister side \u2013 with its existence being to grow drivers for promotion \u2013 could also play a part in deciding which drivers get the nod. <\/p>\n

As a counter to that, though, Red Bull won\u2019t need to promote a driver for the foreseeable future, with the pair of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar on long-term contracts.<\/p>\n

But asked exactly what Racing Bulls want out of their 2027 pairing, Permane outlined the equation comes down to more than just results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s many, many, many things,\u201d he explained. \u201cTop of the list is speed, pace and all that goes with that. There\u2019s lots of [things] in the background.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a slightly unique situation. We want to bring on young drivers, we want to bring on young talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have one eye on them progressing in the future. So it\u2019s not just about the here and now, it\u2019s also about what they can do in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Powell<\/a> is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In June, reports out of Spain linked Red Bull-backed Formula Two driver Nikola Tsolov with Lawson\u2019s seat \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[53396,18516,32220,72727,4282,58032,14134,29188,296,809,47525,20409,111,139,69,691,1523,307356,3512,110292,4482,11426,13377,6926,213,7187,61,1533],"class_list":["post-625777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-53396","tag-18516","tag-alan","tag-asserts","tag-boss","tag-bulls","tag-decision","tag-formula","tag-into","tag-keep","tag-lawson","tag-liam","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-or","tag-over","tag-permane","tag-racing","tag-relaxed","tag-replace","tag-rushed","tag-sack","tag-season","tag-sports","tag-team","tag-to","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}