With the 2026 United States Grand Prix rolling into Austin this weekend, one question is hanging over the Racing Bulls garage: who gets the seats in 2027? BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson weighed in ahead of the race — and the answer could reshape Red Bull’s entire junior-driver philosophy.
Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad (Credits: BBC Sport)
Racing Bulls are one of only two teams yet to finalize their 2027 driver lineup (the other being Haas, where Oliver Bearman’s confirmation alongside Rafael Camara is considered a formality). For the Faenza squad, it’s a classic three-don’t-fit-into-two puzzle: current race drivers Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad are both in the frame, along with Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov, the Bulgarian who currently sits second in the Formula 2 championship.
The standings tell part of the story: Lawson is ninth in the drivers’ championship with 75 points, while Lindblad is 11th with 38 points.
The Post-Marko Era Begins
This is the first time in Red Bull history that Helmut Marko is not in charge of driver choice at the junior team, and nobody quite knows what the new management will do. Under Marko and former team boss Christian Horner, the playbook was ruthless: a driver got a shot, and if they didn’t deliver almost immediately, they were out.
On one level, that made sense — Red Bull were hunting for world-class drivers who could lead the senior team. But critics argue the programme has been mismanaged for two decades, sometimes pairing two unknown quantities together and making it impossible to judge either one’s true quality.
The Case for Keeping Lawson and Lindblad Together
There is a strong argument for patience: keep Lawson and Lindblad as the 2027 pairing, make Tsolov the reserve, and give him simulator work plus tests in older cars to build F1 experience.
The logic is simple. Lindblad’s debut season has impressed in patches, but Lawson is consistently quicker right now — both in qualifying and in races. Lawson is a known-quality benchmark. If Lindblad is genuinely a future Red Bull candidate, he should be given an extra season to prove he can beat Lawson regularly. If he can’t, the conclusion writes itself. Pairing two rookies — Lindblad and Tsolov — would leave both judged against unknowns, which helps nobody in the bigger picture.
Who Decides?
No decision has been taken yet. Ultimately, it rests with shareholders Chalerm Yoovidhya and Mark Mateschitz, with Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff in overall charge of the F1 programme.
Also Read: Best Images of F1 in the US: From Sebring 1959 to Austin’s Modern Era
Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.
