Liam Lawson is relieved to have secured his place on the Formula 1 grid for 2026 but still regrets losing his Red Bull drive.

Red Bull confirmed Lawson’s team mate Isack Hadjar as their new driver for next year. Lawson began the year at Red Bull but the team demoted him back to Racing Bulls after just two rounds.

Lawson admitted the start of the season had been a “bad moment” for him where he was “struggling to understand what [was] going on.” He failed to score in either of his first two grands prix, both at tracks he hadn’t raced on before.

“I would have liked to have thought that, with the right amount of time, I would have got my head around it, honestly,” he told the official Formula 1 channel. “For me two races – I honestly don’t even really remember them, they were so short.”

Unlike last year, Lawson will go into the final race of the championship knowing he has a place on the grid for next season.

“It’s probably a bit more relief than anything right now,” he admitted. “It’s also nice going into this weekend knowing that – I can’t really remember the last time I had that.

“So I’ll try and enjoy the weekend a little bit, but I think that it’s very positive and it’s exciting to be able to go into next year and spend the off-season with a proper plan.”

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Red Bull has confirmed Yuki Tsunoda, who was promoted to replace Lawson, earlier in the year, will not have a place on the grid next season. Tsunoda scored just 30 points after he joined the team, less than Lawson and Hadjar managed for Racing Bulls.

Lawson and Tsunoda were team mates previously in F1 and at several points in their junior career. Asked whether he felt sorry for Tsunoda, Lawson replied: “It’s tricky because in the same way I would feel for anybody that’s not in Formula 1, that’s worked a long time to get there, but at the same time there’s a lot of guys that don’t get the opportunity ever.

“He’s had a few years in the sport and and I think it’s a very tough game, which obviously I’ve learned as well.”

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