Words: Richard Edwards
Published 19 August 2026
Liam Lawson will return to Red Bull Racing for this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, standing in for the injured Isack Hadjar in a one-off drive for the team that dropped him last year.
Racing Bulls has confirmed the call-up to the New Zealand Herald, with Hadjar ruled out of the Zandvoort round with a wrist injury. Lawson steps up seventeen months after Red Bull demoted him from the senior team two races into the 2025 season.
Zandvoort is where Lawson made his Formula 1 debut in 2023, standing in for Daniel Ricciardo after the Australian broke a metacarpal in a practice crash. Ricciardo’s injury kept him out for five races, and Lawson held the seat until his return at Austin two months later.
How long Lawson keeps the seat depends on the nature of Hadjar’s injury, which has not been detailed. The Italian Grand Prix at Monza follows on 4 to 6 September, two weeks after Zandvoort, with Madrid the weekend after that. A confirmed stand-in this far ahead of the weekend, rather than a Thursday fitness test, suggests the team is taking no chances. Zandvoort is also a sprint weekend, the first for the Dutch round, with a single practice session before competitive running begins. There is no room for a half-fit driver.
Hadjar was promoted to Red Bull for 2026 alongside Max Verstappen after his rookie season, which included a podium at last year’s Dutch Grand Prix. Lawson stayed at Racing Bulls as senior driver alongside rookie Arvid Lindblad.
Lawson’s 2026 has been the strongest of his career. He sits ninth in the drivers’ championship on 43 points at the summer break, the best-placed driver outside the top four teams, and put together a five-race scoring streak through the middle of the season. He has 20 points more than Lindblad and 25 fewer than Hadjar, and has taken on the team leader role at the Faenza squad in his first full season with a proper pre-season behind him.
Yuki Tsunoda is Red Bull’s test and reserve driver for 2026, on standby to replace any of the four drivers across both teams. The team has instead taken Lawson from the sister squad.
Lawson’s first stint at Milton Keynes lasted two rounds before he was swapped with Tsunoda ahead of the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix. “I spent two races there, and the way it all went down was just so crazy that I honestly was like, I’m just going to pretend I never even went there,” he says.
Verstappen is yet to confirm his plans beyond this season, and Lawson is considered a leading internal candidate for a 2027 Red Bull seat if the Dutchman leaves.
Qualifying is Saturday night and the race Sunday night NZ time, with the sprint earlier on Saturday.
