Racing Bulls face three-driver dilemma for 2027 with Lawson, Lindblad and Tsolov
Racing Bulls weighing three candidates for two seats
Racing Bulls is one of only two teams where the 2027 driver line-up is not finalised. The other is Haas, where Oliver Bearman has not yet been confirmed alongside new signing Rafael Camara, although that is only a matter of time.
At Racing Bulls it is a three-don't-fit-into-two situation, with current race drivers Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad in the frame along with Red Bull junior driver Nikola Tsolov, the Bulgarian who is second in the Formula 2 championship at the moment.
The Q&A notes Lawson is ninth in the drivers' championship with 75 points, while Racing Bulls team-mate Arvid Lindblad is 11th with 38 points. This is the first time in Red Bull history that Helmut Marko is not in charge of driver choice at the junior team and it is unclear what approach they will take under the new management.
Changing philosophy under new management
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.
Benson argues there is an argument that the Red Bull young driver programme has been mismanaged for 20 years by Marko and former team boss Christian Horner and they should take a more considered, patient, methodological approach.
In the past, Marko and Horner took a very ruthless approach. A driver would get a shot, and if they did not deliver pretty much immediately, they were dropped. On one level, it made sense - they were looking for world-class drivers who could lead Red Bull. And if a driver was not that level, they felt they had no use for them. But at the same time, it sometimes meant putting two unknown quantities together, which made it harder to judge the quality of either.
An alternative approach might be to keep a known-quality benchmark on board against which it is easier to judge the ability of a newcomer. On that basis, it would make sense to keep Lawson and Lindblad together for 2027 and make Tsolov the reserve, put him in the simulator and give him some tests in older cars to provide him with F1 experience.
The reasoning is that while Lindblad's debut season has been impressive in patches, Lawson is consistently quicker at the moment, both in qualifying and in races. So if Lindblad is to be considered a future candidate for Red Bull, this argument would go, 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.
If they put Tsolov in with Lindblad, they have two unknown quantities, which helps no-one in the bigger picture.
A decision has not yet been taken, and ultimately it rests with the shareholders, Chalerm Yoovidhya and Mark Mateschitz, with under them Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff, who is in overall charge of the F1 programme.
Kimi Antonelli has his first opportunity to secure the 2026 drivers' championship at this weekend's United States Grand Prix in Austin. Antonelli must win the race with Mercedes team-mate George Russell finishing ninth or lower and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton fifth or lower.