Liam Lawson has earned his Racing Bulls seat for 2027, and dropping him would be wrong
Liam Lawson is ninth in the standings as Racing Bulls weigh three drivers for two 2027 seats. We think they should keep him as the benchmark.
Red Bull needed a stand-in driver this season, and they didn't turn to their reserve. They took Liam Lawson out of Racing Bulls and trusted him with the seat in the senior team. You don't do that with a driver you're planning to bin. It's why we think Lawson has done enough to keep his Racing Bulls seat for 2027.
The record makes the case
Hinchcliffe set out the argument on Formula 1's own website, under the headline "Why Lawson deserves to keep his seat at Racing Bulls". The numbers back him up. Lawson is ninth in the drivers' standings, "best of the rest behind those racing for the big four teams", with what Hinchcliffe calls "a healthy buffer to your next closest challenger".
He's also one point shy of doubling his team mate's points tally for the year, and his efforts have helped put Racing Bulls "a (relatively) comfortable fifth in the constructors' table". That's a benchmark, not a stopgap.
Three drivers, two seats
The problem is the maths. According to BBC Sport, Racing Bulls are one of only two teams whose 2027 line-up isn't finalised, and it's "a three-don't-fit-into-two situation". Lawson and Arvid Lindblad hold the race seats. Nikola Tsolov, the Bulgarian Red Bull junior, is waiting in the wings and is second in the Formula 2 championship.
BBC Sport's Q&A points out that in the past, "one might have expected them to drop Lawson, on the basis that he has had his chance and is not likely to be considered a long-term candidate for a full-time seat at Red Bull, and put Tsolov in alongside Lindblad."
Why dropping Lawson gets it backwards
We think that old reflex is the wrong way round. Lindblad needs a full season against a known quantity before anyone can call him a Red Bull candidate, and Lawson is that yardstick.
The BBC makes a similar case. If Lindblad is to be seen as a future Red Bull driver, it argues, "he should be given an extra season to prove whether he can consistently beat Lawson. Because if he can't, the obvious conclusion is that he is not a candidate for the senior team." Pairing Tsolov with Lindblad instead would leave "two unknown quantities, which helps no-one in the bigger picture."
There's a route for Tsolov too. The BBC suggests making him the reserve, putting him in the simulator and giving him "some tests in older cars to provide him with F1 experience."
So keep Lawson, run Lindblad against him and make Tsolov the reserve. Anything else throws away the one measuring stick the team already have.
