Liam Lawson Backs Isack Hadjar as Red Bull Faces the Big Call

There is always a lot of attention on where drivers will move or stay, but this has increased over the past few years, mainly because of how many newcomers there are to the sport through online casino in NZ platforms that offer F1 betting or the extremely popular Netflix series Drive To Survive. 

Liam Lawson is a driver who has previous experience with Red Bull's senior team. Even though his time with the team was brief, as he replaced Sergio Perez in 2025, he returned to Racing Bulls after just two races. This career path within the Red Bull system gave him a lot of insight into the inner workings of the organization. Following Hadjar's first podium finish in the Netherlands, Lawson said in an interview that he believes the rookie is ready to step up. 

He also offered more pointed advice to the rookie, telling him to listen to himself and maintain confidence in the face of external noise. Lawson also refrained from making his statement look like a critique of current Oracle Red Bull Racing Driver Yuki Tsunoda, who does not yet have a confirmed seat next season. As it stands, only current world champion Max Verstappen has a seat, leaving two open in the junior Red Bull team and one in the senior. 

This means that the competitive microcosm that is the Red Bull driver program is still up for debate. But the public endorsement from one teammate to another is notable. Even Verstappen himself joked with Hadjar about a potential promotion to the senior team following his race pace and podium finish. However, as nothing yet is confirmed, this is just speculation between racers and fans.

To understand Isack’s potential path to the Red Bull senior team, let’s look at his career so far. Born in 2004, Hadjar began carting in his formative years and joined F3 in 2022 as part of the Red Bull Junior Team. During his debut season, he collected multiple wins and had a very strong showing. After which, he graduated to FIA Formula 2 and had amazing performances, including an impressive showcase of reflexes in Monaco. Then, in the 2024 season, he delivered a great show, sadly, finishing as runner-up in the championship. This put him on Red Bull’s radar as a potential rookie in F1.

In late 2024, this was confirmed, and Hadjar was announced to be a Racing Bulls driver for the 2025 season. However, his rookie season did not start smoothly as he had a crash on the formation lap in Australia, the first race of the season. Starting his first season with a DNF is a setback, but he didn’t let it keep him down, rebounding almost instantly. Since then, he has consistently competed for points, currently standing at 9th in the driver standings. The highlight of his season so far came at Zandvoort, where he qualified in P3 and maintained his position to finish on the podium.

It seems that the rookie is just starting to spread his wings and fine-tune his driving style. His aggression, combined with measured risk control, makes him the contender for best rookie of the season, with him also being a prospect worth keeping an eye on in the upcoming 2026 season, amidst the new regulations. 

Red Bull is known for their preference for bold and aggressive drivers during the team's time in F1. However, they are also known for sudden shifts in seats for the smallest of mistakes or for new prospects. This has many fans looking at the seat diligently to see who gets to keep their spot. For example, they promoted both Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen at a young age, replacing experienced drivers in the process.

As the team is in a unique position of having two teams, they have the option to shuffle drivers rapidly. They seemingly love to do this to get the best results, as there are often mid-season changes determined by performance from the drivers. The same happened this year to Lawson, with Tsunoda, showing that the Red Bull team sticks to their craft. 

For Red Bull, the 2025 season is already over for the Constructors’ Championship, as McLaren is just one good race away from taking it early in the season. However, there is still a mathematical chance for Max Verstappen to maintain his World Champion title. This is proving to be especially promising following his amazing performances in Italy and Azerbaijan. It is important to note that these two races also weren’t the best for both McLaren drivers, allowing Verstappen to bridge the gap ever so slightly. With 7 races left and 3 sprints, there is still a lot to happen until the end of the season. 

In the 2026 season, there will be new regulations that will completely change the car and power module. As such, this will completely shake up the standings, and the worst teams could easily become the best. Red Bull has experienced many changes in the team, and has only one driver locked in for the upcoming season, Max Verstappen. It is highly likely that they will stick with the current driving roster and potentially just swap Hadjar and Tsunoda. This could create a powerful and aggressive duo in the main team that could try to secure the Constructors' Championship. We will just have to wait and see what Horner and the team come up with and announce as we come to the close of the 2025 season. 

All in all, the future of the grid is very unclear amidst the upcoming regulations, but the hybrid model looks to make it more dynamic. As a result, we could see fewer spouts of domination and a more active grid competing for the championships.