Liam Lawson v Yuki Tsunoda: Red Bull to confirm F1 seat on Tuesday

Liam Lawson will learn his Formula One future in the coming days, with Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies confirming the 2026 driver line-up will be announced on Tuesday (Wednesday NZT).

Lawson, coming off a ninth placing in Qatar today, looks to be fighting current Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda for a seat in the Racing Bulls set-up.

“All I can tell you is that we will in fact stick to our plan and we will announce on Tuesday what the driver line-up is,” Mekies told media after today’s Qatar Grand Prix. “We are confident it will not disturb the focus in Abu Dhabi.”

It’s widely expected that Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar will be promoted to be the teammate of Max Verstappen at Red Bull next season, while Formula Two driver Arvid Lindblad is set to move up.

That leaves one Racing Bulls seat vacant for either the Kiwi or Tsunoda, who replaced Lawson in the Red Bull car two races into the season.

Lawson edged out the Japanese driver today, who snuck into the points for the first time in four races.

Liam Lawson at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, a despondent-sounding Tsunoda revealed he knew something about his future that he couldn’t disclose.

“I know something that I can’t share with you guys,” he said. “But probably most people know it.

“I’m [of] a similar understanding as you guys. I don’t know what’s going to happen.

“Let’s see.”

Tsunoda has been linked with the American IndyCar series.

While the 25-year-old has been part of Red Bull’s junior development programme, and on the Formula One grid since 2021 with AlphaTauri, Racing Bulls and the senior team, Tsunoda’s position has always been linked to engine supplier Honda, one of his primary backers.

The Herald understands that Honda pays an annual sum of about US$10 million ($17.4m) to Red Bull to guarantee Tsunoda a place at one of its two teams.

Earlier this year, when Lawson was demoted from Red Bull to Racing Bulls after two races, Tsunoda took his place in the top team and that payment was understood to have been doubled.

However, Honda is departing Red Bull for Aston Martin at the end of this season, leaving Tsunoda’s future in doubt. At present, Red Bull have only Max Verstappen confirmed in a seat for next year.

Earlier this year, Red Bull senior adviser Helmut Marko gave a deadline of the Mexican Grand Prix to decide on the two teams’ driver line-ups. After Mexico, that decision was pushed back until after Qatar.

The season ends in Abu Dhabi on Monday morning, with McLaren drivers Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Verstappen all in the running for the title.