Liam Lawson replaces Isack Hadjar, who changed Yuki Tsunoda, who changed Lawson, while Tsunoda replaces Lawson alongside Arvid Lindblad, who changed Hadjar, who changed Lawson, who changed Daniel Ricciardo, after which who changed Sergio Perez.
Or, to place it one other manner, Lawson replaces the driving force at Crimson Bull, who changed his alternative.
The New Zealander is to step again as much as the senior Crimson Bull crew for this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix after Hadjar was sidelined with a wrist damage sustained while coaching. Tsunoda has been drafted in to switch Lawson alongside Lindblad as Lawson returns to be Max Verstappen’s team-mate following his two-race spell in early 2025.
There, Lawson was eliminated after the Australian and Chinese language Grands Prix, having been promoted to switch Perez with simply 11 grand prix begins to his title. An engine drawback price him observe time in apply, earlier than the moist race chaos ended with him crashing into the barrier, one in all many to take action.
In China, a venue he had by no means pushed at, Lawson once more struggled within the tough RB21, and was promptly changed and despatched again to Racing Bulls, with Tsunoda stepping in from the Japanese GP.
In being promoted again to the senior Crimson Bull crew, Lawson has grow to be the primary driver faraway from the seat to earn his manner again.
Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, and Tsunoda himself all did not return to the seat after being axed, with the spectacular Lawson slowly rebuilding his profession for the reason that swap.
Within the first-half of the 2026 season, he’s ninth within the drivers’ standings on 43 factors, taking a better of sixth in Monaco and Nice Britain. It means he’s the best-placed driver from exterior Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, or Crimson Bull.
With the RB22 anticipated to be able to difficult close to the top of the sector, Lawson will likely be trying to rating the primary podium from a New Zealander since Denny Hulme’s second place on the 1974 Austrian GP – 913 grands prix in the past.
