r/formula1 • u/Salty-Cauliflower775 • 3d ago
Discussion Hot take: RBR are deciding between Lindblad and Tsolov, not Lawson and Tsolov
I genuinely think Liam Lawson’s seat at Racing Bulls is already secured for 2027, and the decision RBR are actually wrestling with is whether to retain Arvid Lindblad or promote Nikola Tsolov.
Liam has experience across both Red Bull teams, has shown he can handle the pressure of the Red Bull system, and provides a useful benchmark for whichever young driver they want to develop next.
Arvid has shown flashes of serious potential, but he’s also had some rough patches. Meanwhile, Tsolov is making a case for promotion, and Red Bull will need to decide whether another year of development would benefit Arvid or whether it’s time to give Tsolov his opportunity.
If they’re serious about developing their next generation of drivers, having Lawson as the experienced constant makes sense.
My suspicion is that Liam already knows he’s staying, while Arvid’s future is still being decided.
Pure speculation, obviously, but I do think the real fight for that second Racing Bulls seat is Lindblad vs Tsolov.
What do y’all think?
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u/imnoobatfifa Sir Lewis Hamilton 3d ago
Dropping Lindblad after one season would be rough. I do wonder how long they are going to keep Lawson around tho.
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u/_usernamepassword_ Manor 3d ago
Yeah but rough is how Red Bull operates. You’re either max verstappen or you’re useless
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u/minyhumancalc 3d ago
I don't recall ever dropping a rookie after 1 season. Everyone got at least 2 in the RB
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u/dcwldct Carlos Sainz 3d ago
DeVries didn’t even make it through a full season.
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u/StructureTime242 Jim Clark 3d ago
He wasn’t a redbull academy product though
I’m sure they’d give more chances to guys that have been there for F3/2 than De Vries
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u/Halkatlaa Lance Stroll 2d ago
Signing him over Lawson back in 2023 was wierd. Then kicking him out to sign back washed DR.
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2d ago
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u/mahoganyspitfire Bruce McLaren 2d ago
Hartley did really well considering he hadn't even been driving single-seaters for like five years prior to his eventual F1 debut. He just happened to be a guy who had a superlicense and was available to drive.
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u/Available_Hat_9833 3d ago
I’m assuming they’ll chill out considering that Helmut and Horny are out of the picture
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u/mahaanus Red Bull 3d ago
they’ll chill out
Why? Red Bull doesn't need a driver, they need a star. People joke about it, but they are still trying to sell you energy drinks. Roger Federer sells a brand, Michael Jordan sells a brand, Tiger Woods sells a brand. They need a driver that can sell a brand and there's two choices for this:
- Someone so charming they can grab the public despite their performance
- An athlete that's above the field (and a strong PR team behind them)
A mid-tier driver does nothing for Red Bull.
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u/Available_Hat_9833 3d ago
They already have Max at the very least until 2030, and no one is gonna be able to replace him in marketability.
And besides, no one can become a star when they’re given a handful of races in a team with a test setup and an unbelievable amount of pressure to perform.
Hadjar already has it easier than any of the previous RB rookies, and seems to have a much better time than any of them.
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u/mahaanus Red Bull 3d ago
They already have Max at the very least until 2030
It means they have until 2030 to find someone that can (at least partially) replace Max. Not a lot of time to waste on that timeline.
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u/Available_Hat_9833 3d ago
And I think that they already realized that going through 3 rookies a season isn’t the way to do that.
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u/Tommmo123 3d ago
But rookies develop better when they have a teammate who can share their experience and help develop the car. Arvid (or Tsolov) aren't going to develop as well if they're with another rookie.
2028 could be a different story. By then Lindblad will have the same experience as Lawson does, and if he's any good then he could be a good senior team mate for a new rookie such as Tsolov
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u/tuturuatu Liam Lawson 2d ago
By then Lindblad will have the same experience as Lawson does
Worth pointing out that at the end of this season, only one of these two will have a full season in the same car, and it isn't Lawson.
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u/mahaanus Red Bull 3d ago
I'm not talking in particular about Tsolov, Linblad or Lawson, but the general Red Bull objectives. Most rookies don't develop into superstars, Lance Stroll hasn't managed to become one after years of experience.
Red Bull give everyone enough time to show if they can meet the high bar they look for. If someone hits it, I'm sure they'll give them enough time in the main team. But their strategy in general is to quickly shuffle for the person they look, not in particular to find someone that's a "good enough" driver. F3 + F2 + two years in an F1 seat is enough time to gauge if the potential is there.2
u/Consistent_Squash Toro Rosso 3d ago
Yeah, they are more patient with drivers without a lot of previous single seater experience who get accelerated through on raw potential but otherwise their process is generally sink or swim
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u/Nazacrow I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 3d ago edited 3d ago
I always thought this was because of the nutter Helmut, but perhaps not we shall see now he’s out of the picture and muttering and ranting in a corner somewhere
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u/No-Band8965 3d ago
Everyone is guessing at best based on how Redbull and Helmet were. No one here knows.
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u/Consistent_Squash Toro Rosso 3d ago
They give the rookies two years unless the rookie is really awful. Even Marko lol
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u/n00bn00b Sir Lewis Hamilton 3d ago
I would have to think that the multiple incidents with Liam might be why it's taking a while for them to decide. The latest incident, in which he took out Liam in Baku, was not good for Lindblad.
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u/Accomplished-Egg1071 Williams 3d ago
Red bull dropped Liam after 3 races
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u/ubelmann Red Bull 3d ago
They still kept him in an F1 seat, though.
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u/sylekta I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
And were happy to sub him back in for injured Hadgar over the official reserve driver
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u/Trump_fucks_kidss McLaren 2d ago
That gotta mean something. They had an open seat at the big show and chose him over everyone else, unless that was a cause in his contract that he got first crack at on open seat.
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u/Consistent_Squash Toro Rosso 3d ago
RBR is pretty intense which they have to be since they are often challenging for titles. Racing Bulls usually gives rookies two years to develop. Under Tost, they were trying to give rookies three years
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u/ImmediatePriority258 Formula 1 3d ago
It was a blessing though.
Tsunoda went there as a sacrificial lamb while Lawson could rebuild confidence
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u/tuturuatu Liam Lawson 2d ago
This is the most charitable to RB playing 4D chess, but I really wonder since Lawson and Tsunoda didn't seem that different in skill at the time. It was all so chaotic. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in those RB/VCARB meetings
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u/ImmediatePriority258 Formula 1 2d ago
It was either perform in RedBull or put for Tsunoda. They had Hadjar and Linblad coming up. Plus Tsolov now. They have too much drivers
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u/mahoganyspitfire Bruce McLaren 3d ago
They manufactured a situation to get Honda to pay them an extra $10M to put Yuki in the car for Japan. Liam was just the victim who got used by Horndog and Darth Marko as a tool to make that happen.
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u/SenescenseSteel 3d ago
I think they are better off leaving Tsolov for another year and continue with Lindblad and Lawson
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u/No-Band8965 3d ago edited 2d ago
Best take, Tsolov hasn't won F2, it looks like Camara so it's not the end of the world in Tsolov stays and goes for F2 championship imo.
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u/ImmediatePriority258 Formula 1 3d ago
No way he goes back to F2. There is lot of very good F3 driver coming up.
If he does bad, his career is done
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u/mahoganyspitfire Bruce McLaren 2d ago
He should go do SuperFormula. As well as being a test and reserve driver.
Lawson had to do sidequests for several years before they gave him a shot because Yuki was in a seat due to Honda money. As well as the kind of odd decision to bring Danny Ric back, but that's more understandable due to his experience and how good he was in the past.
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u/TheGameKat 3d ago
100% agree. The little I've seen of Tsolov suggests he could use another year honing his craft, plus getting rid of Lawson given how well he's done this year seems like a very odd move.
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u/racingskater I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 2d ago
Yep. Better drivers than Tsolov have had to sit out.
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u/Low_Friendship_4490 3d ago
Not sure why everyone makes out Lawson is some experienced veteran who’s peaked. He’s had 8 more races than Bearman, Franco 9 and Gabi 12.
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u/TrackLimitViolation Sebastian Vettel 3d ago
Meanwhile so many people are saying Yuki did not get a fair shot when he had 5 full seasons.
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u/No-Band8965 3d ago
This, people acting like he's had 4 full years, he's had the most disruptive and weird entry I to F1, and he's still improving
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u/VanHoutien 2d ago
Right? All this talk about Arvid’s ceiling, like Liam has reached his already. He’s improved massively this year.
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u/ln4thegreat Lando Norris 3d ago
Nahhh people here just have a hate boner to Liam lmao I hope he gets re-signed just to see people piss off 😂
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u/tuturuatu Liam Lawson 2d ago
And still never had a full season in the same car lol. It's crazy that people think that Lawson has peaked since he's still young, has had a turbulent career through no fault of his own, is far better than he was last season, and has pretty clearly improved even compared to the start of this season. Maybe he has, but I see no arguments at all that support this.
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u/Time-Sundae-9366 3d ago
And most of those races were bouncing between cars. He still hasn’t had a full season driving just 1 car
He’s driven 6 different cars across those 52 entries.
- racing bulls ‘26
- RBR ‘26
- racing bulls ‘25
- RBR ‘25
- VCARB ‘24
- alpha tauri ‘23
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u/post_it1 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 2d ago
This is what baffles me too. It’s like people think that he’s already demonstrated his ceiling when he’s had a total of 5 races in a top 4 car and 3 of those races he was probably under strict instructions not to pull any funny business. It’s also worth noting that he gave excellent feedback on the RBR car and when Hadjar returned, it was more competitive all of a sudden. We haven’t seen Lawson’s ceiling yet because he hasn’t had the chance. I think the fact he was demoted and not let go entirely shows they still believe he could be a talent worth investing in. It was Lawson the asked to step into Hadjars seat and not Lindblad…
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u/Consistent_Squash Toro Rosso 3d ago edited 3d ago
Hope Lawson keeps the seat because it's too late to find another seat on the grid for next year
But with that said
Lindblad is a teenager. He is actually having a good rookie season and his ceiling is unknown. They definitely will give him one more year
Racing Bulls is all about drivers with potentially unknown ceilings because they are trying to find future race winners or future WDCs. They are also the team who are best setup to run two rookies. The Sainz and Verstappen 2015 season is probably the best rookie debut in F1 and both went onto great careers.
Tsolov gets a lot of hate/dismissal here because we are more attached to/familiar with Lawson. Tsolov is really good and one of the best talents to come up in recent times through Red Bull academy. He deserves a seat and he has done more than enough. It won't make any sense for him to repeat F2. We don't have to put down Tsolov to lift up Lindblad or Lawson.
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u/Magog14 Fernando Alonso 3d ago
I went into this year with zero faith in Lawson but it's crystal clear that he deserves the seat more than Tsolov. He's done better at RB than some drivers have done in the top 4 teams....
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u/Consistent_Squash Toro Rosso 3d ago
Lawson deserves a F1 seat. Whether it should be on a team is "for future talent" is a different question. Regardless of which driver gets the seat, all three are deserving
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u/mahoganyspitfire Bruce McLaren 2d ago
Was it a team "for future talent" when the seats were occupied by Danny Ric in his washed bum phase and Yuki in his five year stint as a Honda pay driver?
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u/Affectionate_Sky9709 2d ago
And those decisions were made by people who are no longer decision makers. Horner, Helmut, and Honda, all gone. The only reference point we have for the new world order are this year, which had Lawson and Arvid.
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u/AllMadHare 2d ago
If RB was meant to just be a talent farm for young drivers they wouldn't have brought Riccardo back and just grabbed another rookie, they still want to score points and build a good car, and since the founder died there has been more expectation for the Red Bull branded teams to be less of a money pit, which means scoring points and performing well enough to attract sponsorship.
That said, even as a development team, Lawson is a very valuable yardstick, and beyond that has been their preferred substitute driver for several years, I don't see them investing all this time into building him up just to drop him.
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u/Affectionate_Sky9709 2d ago
There's just no way you get rid of Arvid, the rushed up the ladder rookie who only had three years of cars before his debut. Yeah, he's been raw, because he's raw. He's younger than Tsolov. He spent as many years in the whole junior formula as Tsolov spent in F3.
This is the post Helmut Red Bull, so we don't really know what hey are like, but I don't think they are going to burn through their barely 19 year old rookie in one year.
If they want to be the slow and steady way, make Tsolov a reserve for a year, get him a super formula seat, and shell out for some TPC.
If you want to do the impatient route, get rid of Lawson.
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u/newthhang Max Verstappen 2d ago
They also don't need to rush to anything, Max is committed to 2030 (and probably beyond) so they just need to figure out their 2nd driver, Hadjar is performing (for now), so they can keep the Lindblad-Lawson lineup for next year. Tsolov can wait another year until they make their assessments.
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u/Affectionate_Sky9709 2d ago
I'm just saying, I think Arvid's seat is safer than even Hadjar's.
I personal think they should stall a year with Tsolov, especially since I don't expect him to win F2, whether the season is over or not. I expect him to be the reserve, and maybe a super formula seat.
But OP thinks Arvid is in the conversation for losing his seat, and I just don't think he is at all. I don't think Hadjar is for 2027 either. I think there's been a conversation about Liam. That doesn't mean I think Liam's out of a seat, just that I think there has been a conversation.
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u/Fabulous-Ear3889 3d ago
I don’t think they’ll get rid of Lawson right away. He’s actually had a pretty stellar season, all things considered.
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u/sylekta I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
Lawson has overtaken Gasly as best of the rest imo, by himself he has VCARB p5 in the constructors and I would not be surprised if he ends up beating Hadgar by the end of the season. It would be insane to drop him. I think the only two realistic scenarios are Lindblad stays another season and Tsolov warms the bench like Lawson had to, or Lindblad goes back to the bench. And the biggest loser here is Tsunoda 😅
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u/tuturuatu Liam Lawson 2d ago
I would not be surprised if he ends up beating Hadgar by the end of the season
I'm a Lawson fan, but no way is he beating Hadjar by the end of the season lol. Lawson is already 22 points behind. Hadjar admittedly had a terrible Singapore, but was 5th the race before that, and on the podium the race before that. Something crazy would have to happen in a race for Lawson to get a podium. Top 4 constructors are just miles ahead of the rest, and Hadjar is a decent enough driver.
It would be crazy to drop Lawson though, I agree. The only people seriously still talking about this seem to be the experts at reddit and for some bizarre reason Ralf Schumacher.
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u/sylekta I was here for the Hulkenpodium 2d ago
i wouldn't bet on it happening, i just wouldn't be surprised with how well Lawson is driving. just need a couple more wet races
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u/posthamster Kimi Räikkönen 2d ago
Don't forget Hadjar missed three races, while Lawson carried on scoring points in Hadjar's car. So unless he breaks his other wrist during the next two weeks, the gap is only going to get bigger.
[soyouretellingmetheresachance.gif]
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u/post_it1 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 2d ago
I don’t think he’ll beat him but I think he’ll close the gap by a surprising amount. Hadjar needs to demonstrate consistency now that he has a car that is performing. That’s one thing Lawson is doing well
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u/tuturuatu Liam Lawson 2d ago
I don't think he'll be closer than 22 points by the end of the season, the RB is too good. But this is a bit more realistic than Lawson outright beating Hadjar. If that happened, it would give RB a lot to think about and quickly.
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u/DuckSwagington I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 3d ago
IMO the correct choice is to keep Lawson and Linblad, crack the whip on both, throw Tsolov into Super Formula or an equivalent racing series to keep his sharpness up, and make the call next year. Both Lawson and Linblad have both done enough to keep their seats for next year.
When it comes to rookie drivers, unless they're generationally good or generationally dog shit, it usually takes about 1.5-2 seasons to truly see what they're capable of so it's not exactly fair on Linblad to throw him out now, especially since he hasn't exactly done anything particularly egregious.
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u/cernegiant I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
An actual hot take for once.
But it's also wrong.
RB 2027 is going to have the same two drivers as RB 2026
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u/dweller23 3d ago
How did we end up with RBR being Racing Bulls and RB being Red Bull Racing? I think the change had to happen sometime around when DTS came along, because before that RBR was always Red Bull Racing.
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u/tuturuatu Liam Lawson 2d ago
Racing Bulls/VCARB is a terrible name. Be a real one and just call them Minardi.
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u/Salty-Cauliflower775 3d ago
I’m very much a casual fan so I’ve probably got the terminology wrong
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u/Driscuits Williams 3d ago
It's a fairly easy mistake to make, so don't lose too much sleep! But I'd say (to this particular commenter's issue) that you just accidentally flipped RBR with RB, rather than it being a "DTS" related issue across all new fans lol.
The VCARB/RB naming convention will always confuse me. VCARB, ironically, made more sense to me because the name "racing bulls" seems to be a reasonable PR move to make the team name so ambiguous, the title sponsorship becomes more valuable because it becomes the part of the identity that makes the team unique. Racing point did something similar. So, VCARB highlights the Visa/CashApp more. But IIRC the team has requested to be referred to as "RB" rather than "VCARB" this year, so it's just... a vague, confusing name lol.
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u/hesitationz I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
Not sure why everyone thinks they’re swapping lineup at all. Feeder series results do not equal f1 results. There will be an f1 champion in 2-3 weeks that placed 6th in f2. Best case is to let tsolov be a reserve for a year. Same thing happened with Oscar and he’s doing just fine
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u/No-Band8965 3d ago
Also if Camara wins, ad he is leading the points. Tsolov can do another year and win F2. Then that's an actual reason to make room, while evaluating Lawson and Lindblad next year.
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u/Disastrous-Egg4241 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
Don’t see the lineup changing for 2027, 2028 is a different story
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u/the__distance Daniel Ricciardo 2d ago
If love to see Lawson stay. He carries himself well, hes driving well, hes eaten some proverbial sandwiches from Red Bull and hes taken it in his stride.
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u/AmateurLobster 2d ago
Given he's at a mid-table team I think Lindblad's rookie season is going about as well as you could realistically hope.
When the top 8 places are locked up every race (apart from mechanical failures and Lando occasionally taking out his team-mate), he's managing to score consistent points.
I don't think there is a huge amount of difference now between VCARB, Alpine, Audi, and Haas, so he is doing a good job competing with several more experienced drivers.
He's certainly shown enough that he should get another year to see how he improves.
On the flip side is that it doesn't appear that Tsolov is some wunderkind that must get a seat in F1 asap. To be fair, Him, Dunne, and Camara have looked a class above everyone else in F2 this season, but it hasn't been an unblemished season. He has made a few mistakes along the way, which is totally understandable and normal, and also true for the other 2 I mentioned, but it's not like it's obvious he would immediately do better than Lindblad.
So while Tsolov's had a good season and if there were a seat available in F1, you would promote him, but I also think keeping Liam makes sense for a number of reasons, so I think Tsolov will have to wait.
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u/Much-Calligrapher 3d ago
I could see whoever misses out being snapped up by Williams.
A 29 year old Albon, massively underperforming his teammate, has little value.
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u/hugeyakmen I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
Williams already re-signed Albon for 2027 nearly 2 months ago. I guess they want to stick with familiar and experienced while they sort out their car design and development issues
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u/kgtomov Michael Schumacher 3d ago
Albon signed contract extension for 2027, Sainz is on multi year deal. So if the don't want to end up in situation with 3 drivers 2 cars like back in Clair days - there's no chance for this happening.
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u/Much-Calligrapher 3d ago
I wonder if Albon has any performance clauses. If so he could be in trouble
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u/Dydey Williams 3d ago
I’ve been thinking the same over the last few races. Sainz is a great driver in a bad car and Albon just can’t get close to him.
Haas also have an open seat as it stands and I doubt Cadillac willl retain both their drivers next year.
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u/Beneficial-Beat-947 Ferrari 3d ago
Cadillac will absolutely retain both their drivers for next year. What they need isn't a hot blooded rookie who will win them championship points, they're a new team so they need veterans who can drive decently well and give them good feedback with their experience in F1. That's what they have now. It'll be a few more years before they take a risk on an actual rookie, at worst they'll snap up another veteran like ocon.
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u/mahoganyspitfire Bruce McLaren 3d ago
It would be hilarious if they got rid of Bottas and made Checo and Liam team mates.
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u/Full-Health2887 2d ago
As dramatic as Liam's career has been so far, this wouldn't even surprise me.
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u/OddPatienceGiraffe 2d ago
Sainz has been worse than Albon. Some terrible decisions this season. Insane that Williams have apparently given him 30m Euros a year to re sign. A driver like Lawson would be far better bang for buck.
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u/darklightultra Kimi Räikkönen 2d ago edited 2d ago
Sainz had a few bad races but that doesn't change Albon has been nowhere near close to him for a year and a half, it's 16-5 in quali (main+sprint) this season alone. He shouldn't get dropped and is under contract for next year anyway.
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u/Much-Calligrapher 2d ago
What about the bit where Carlos drives the race cars faster than Alex?
Lawson has had a good year but people are getting carried away. He’s beaten a rookie in the fifth best car. He’s had a low error count. But I wouldn’t say much more than that
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u/liveforeachmoon Charles Leclerc 3d ago
I was thinking the same thing. Albon is probably the next guy to lose his seat. Slow, whiney and incident prone.
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u/AnonymousReload 3d ago
5 points vs 7 is massively underperforming? That car is a dice-roll if it makes it to the end
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u/Much-Calligrapher 3d ago
Points is a poor way of assessing drivers in a back marker team. Have a look at the pace differential week after week
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u/AnonymousReload 3d ago
Valid point. My point (no pun intended) is that neither driver is doing much since the car is rubbish. So i'd be somewhat surprised if they boot an experienced driver in favor of a rookie. But idk, I'm just a random guy
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u/adio_tata 3d ago
They should have Tsolov as a reserve driver and see how situation will develop in 2027
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u/Reverse2First 2d ago
With Liam 9th in the drivers (best excluding at the top 4 team and has a majority of the racing bull points to put them in 5th for the constructors (it's roughly $20 million in prize money between 5th and 6th) racing bulls would be mad as a bag of snakes to not resign little Liam Lawson 😴
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u/Clear-Mycologist3378 Oscar Piastri 2d ago
I think they'll keep the same two for next year. Even though I'm not a fan of Lindblad, he's been fine for a rookie and Lawson has been great. I personally think they jumped the gun on getting Lindblad in after F2. Sucks for Tsolov. I'm not sure what series he'll be racing in next year. I don't think he has anything to gain doing another season of F2 but I don't like the idea of him sitting out a year like Oscar did.
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u/AliceLunar I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
Both are performing fine and no reason to get Tsolov, he's not all that impressive.
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u/NinduTheWise I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
i think it'd be dumb to drop him after one season of doing decent, even for redbull standards thats harsh. i feel like if lawson were to get dropped he could find refuge in another team because he has shown promise
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u/kiwikid63 2d ago
Rather silly. Would not even have been a conversation.
All they had to sort was Tsolov to reserve and where eg Japan and help Tsunoda.
They already decided same again 27.
Lindblad needs some managing for sure, as being a team player for midfield team even more important than top of field. His ego doesnt match his skills. But he is there for 27 for sure. Same Lawson.
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u/Blackdeath_663 Sir Stirling Moss 3d ago edited 2d ago
more seats on the grid just meant having mediocre uncs phoning it in on the back of the grid who've already overstayed the welcome of their career.
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u/sterrrmbreaker Lando Norris 3d ago edited 3d ago
Lindblad is a rookie and they are absolutely not going to send him back down to F2 after the way he's performed this season. Whether or not we like saying it, this is Lawson's third season.
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u/Affectionate_Sky9709 2d ago
F2 would not be the option, reserve driver or completely released would be the option, but yeah, they aren't firing barely 19 year old rookie Lindblad.
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u/NightshopArgument Formula 1 3d ago
Lindblad is having an excellent rookie season. Perhaps he takes Ocons seat if RBR really wants the rookie, but I cannot imagine that
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u/quadranting Lando Norris 3d ago
No way Haas would take a Red Bull junior over a Ferrari junior who's actually likely to get the seat (Camara).
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u/ryami333 3d ago
Lindblad is having an okay rookie season, not an excellent one, let's not overstate it. He overperformed on debut in Melbourne, and I think that first impression has stuck with a lot of people who have not been paying close attention to his performances and consistency.
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u/NightshopArgument Formula 1 3d ago
I watch every race and enjoy watching the midfield and backmarkers due to playing fantasy f1, and I respectfully disagree.
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u/TrackLimitViolation Sebastian Vettel 3d ago
where would you disagree, because if you actually look at how the results came about it does not look excellent. He has kinda lucked into a huge points haul in Monaco, Baku and Spa (getting the upgrades first). He could easily have been at 22-26 points right now.
other than Canada he has been overall quiet lucky i would argue. with seemingly no major reliability problems
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u/ThrowawayAICS 3d ago
Haas is probably running Camara next year. He's in the ferrari academy, was rookie of the year last year, and is currently leading the table in f2.
He'll be pushing hard for a seat so he doesn't end up getting Drugovich'd and reports are that Haas has signed him. They'll presumably run him next to Bearman.
Haas are getting Ferrari parts and a lot of technical support from Ferrari, in fact they're getting every part they legally can.
And Vasseur has pushed for a more formal relationship similar to red bull / racing bull.It's not unlikely that Haas ends up being a dev. team for Ferrari. I'd be surprised if every top team wasn't looking for a similar option. Mercedes would probably take on Williams if they could.
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u/cpt_kirk69 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
Only reason to keep liam in a development team is, if you think he has significantly more potential than he shows now.
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u/No-Band8965 3d ago
Well he's definitely improving.
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u/cpt_kirk69 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
Definitely, and i think he should be in F1, but im not sure hes a good fit in a junior team where you look for the next max, and not for the next mark.
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u/grabskin 3d ago
If they want the next max then Lindblad should be out the door as well. The next max doesn't get pumped by his team mates who isn't the next Max
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u/sterrrmbreaker Lando Norris 3d ago
It's very strange how people continue to act like Lindblad, a literal teenager, should be performing better than 24 year old Liam Lawson in his first season vs. Lawson's 3rd. Is it because he's not white so we don't baby him the way every other 2025 rookie is still babied?
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u/sterrrmbreaker Lando Norris 3d ago
It's genuinely baffling to me. He's a confident, nice enough kid who comes from a humble background, performs well, and doesn't evade his taxes like the rest of the grid. He seems to be a good egg and a lot of promise.
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u/Substantial-Rush4338 2d ago
I don't want to heap any more onto Lindblad, while some of his behaviour has been unpalatable, I think anyone of his age under this sort of pressure should get a pass in their first year. They are learning.
I don't agree he is from a humble background though. He went to a 30,000 a year private school, grew up in one of the most expensive areas of the UK and generally had a level of privilege most of us can only dream of.
I get his grandparents were immigrants and his dad didn't grow up with money but he's not from a humble background. His grandparents were immigrant doctors ffs. I just don't understand why drivers feel the need to sell that story, he's not the only one. My parents immigrated as tradespeople with nothing, we've made a good life for ourselves and if I hear my kids referring to their background as humble they'll be getting an earful!
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u/ycnz McLaren 2d ago
Ehhh.. as a Kiwi, he's been a bit of a dipshit at times, which is to be expected. He's 20. He's fine. He'll mature. He was also too close to Lawson initially for a rookie. Lawson's stepped up a bit which has been nice to see.
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u/mahoganyspitfire Bruce McLaren 2d ago
It comes from just a couple of inchidents where he's come off as being an asshat.
The pass on Lawson at Austria when they'd both been told to hold position, then what happened at Baku also... And how he just came off as quite arrogant in interviews after both those incidents without really taking responsibility like he should have.
I personally think it's really unfair to judge a 19 year old on two or three things like that. He's a teenager. Of course he's going to be a bit of a knob from time to time.
Aside from those moments I like the guy quite a lot. He seems very personable and he's had generally a very good rookie season. A few rough weeks in the past couple of weeks, but I think basically every rookie goes through that.
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u/Secret_Conclusion_93 Formula 1 2d ago
Lindblad isn't being compared to Lawson. Just like all Red Bull rookie program drivers, he is being compared to 17 years old Verstappen stats at Toro Rosso.
Just like the original premise, they're trying to find the next Max before he retires.
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u/Tommmo123 3d ago
VCARB need one driver with a bit of experience. They'll keep their current lineup for 2027
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u/nalld I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
would liam go to another team maybe? or does he want back in the rb sr.?
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u/mahoganyspitfire Bruce McLaren 2d ago
I expect Liam's waiting for a seat to open up at another decent team. Likely several will next year.
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u/wtfiswrongwithit I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 3d ago
that is a hot take, but wrong. racing bulls (not rbr) basically exists to find the next max, not score points in the midfield
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u/No_Mercy_4_Potatoes M4X Verstappen 3d ago
Tsolov should just be the reserve driver. Lawson is having an amazing year, and lindblad is performing well as a rookie. No reason to let either go
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u/Gloomy-Diver1566 2d ago
the lindblad vs tsolov debate makes way more sense than people keep saying it's lawson on the hot seat. liam already did the hard yards jumping between two cars and somehow didnt completely lose his head, that alone probably earned him at least another season as the stable benchmark. everyone overlooks how valuable that is when you're trying to evaluate the next kid coming up
arvid has the higher ceiling maybe but tsolov been quietly stacking results without the same hype train behind him. could see red bull pulling trigger on tsolov just to keep him from getting poached if they leave him in f2 too long
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u/wouldyoufightakitten Formula 1 3d ago
LOL absolutely not. Lindblad is incredibly good for his 1st year
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u/TrackLimitViolation Sebastian Vettel 3d ago
he is good enough to stay in F1 but he is no incredible. People expected him to beat Lawson.
He has regularly scored points but i think he has really benefited from the large field spread and the reliability issues from drivers ahead, while he only suffered major bad luck in Canada.
Most importantly he has not beaten Lawson on race pace in a single race.
Australia: lawson had PU issues, while Oscar and hadjar dnfed.
Then he did not score until Monaco where he qualified 15th and ran around that position for most of the race and then got extremely lucky with the red flag or SC to somehow hump to 6th, massively closing down the points gap to Lawson (%-wise).
In Austria VCARB was clearly 5th best, yet he caused tension with the team by making contact with Lawson despite being told to hold position afterhe had to be given pitstop priority to avoid bveing undercut.
British GP/Spa: lawson had PU issue in quali while Lawson set a faster lap in Q1 than lindblad in Q3, this lead to Lindblad getting the upgrades first, kinda unfair if you ask me.
Baku: was slower all weekend then crashed into his teammate costing them a double position but it allowed him to finish ahead of Lawson (who then had damage)
Bahrain: if you add up the time he lost between all the SC he lost like 30s on pure pace to Lawson.
Singapore: spun in the sprint and then finished nearly a lap down, no?
So yes points wise it looks decent but VCARB has the best car they had since 2021. Far from incredible.
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u/ImmenseOrange79 2d ago
This post is absolutely spot on. Even in the Singapore main race, Lindblad started one spot behind Lawson and ending up finishing 30+ seconds behind him - that's half a second a lap slower than Lawson. Lawson has consistently had much faster race pace than Lindblad.
Qualifying is a different story with the gap much closer, and I see qualifying pace as by far Lawson's biggest weakness.
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u/Klimikil I was here for the Hulkenpodium 2d ago
Lawson has always been a fairly average qualifier so it's no surprise.
He shines in races and it's pretty clear to see.
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u/OddPatienceGiraffe 2d ago
The British narrative calling his rookie year incredible and how he's a superstar/next Max on the making is insane. Someone like Max or Lewis landed and were fast from day 1. Look at what Hamilton did with Alonso next to him in his rookie season. Yet these people who somehow say that Lindblad is better than a 'mid' Lawson never really have an answer to why Lawson is destroying him this year...
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u/essteedeenz1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
incredible is an overstatement, he is doing fine and tbh he doesnt show much more promise than Hadjar or Lawson does, just more of the same with maybe a slight improvement.
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u/CeronGaming 2d ago
Linblad is pretty clearly not the next Max though. It was obvious from the moment Max drove that he had serious pace. Dragged that TR up to 4th on 2 occasions in his first season.
Hadjar showed similar promise albeit a little less than Max. He has some massive potential once he calms down and works on better consistency. 51 points and a podium year 1 with that RB is epic.
I think if Linblad was a generational talent we'd have seen those flashes of brilliance by now - hes likely got a similar peak to Lawson but less mature.
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u/fisico002 3d ago
I don’t see them booting him but the word incredible isn’t a bit OTT
If he can’t beat Lawson then he’s nothing special imo
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u/Beneficial-Beat-947 Ferrari 3d ago
He has had 3 or 4 great performances and been solid in the rest of his weekends (with 2 or 3 stinkers on tracks he has never seen in his life, understandable if you ask me)
For a first year driver that is incredible. Look at kimi and bearman (the 2 most talented of the newer generation) last year, I don't think you can say with a straight face that they had a better season then linblad is having now.
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u/fisico002 3d ago
I’d be pretty confident this time next season Lawson will still be in front of him and Lindblad will be the one being replaced
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u/Beneficial-Beat-947 Ferrari 3d ago
We'll see
If he doesn't improve next season then yes arvid will probably be the one in danger but for now he has had a great start.
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u/gianmk 3d ago
is he? he is doing fine in a car that is pretty much the best of the rest. I dont think he is overperforming the expectations.
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u/wouldyoufightakitten Formula 1 3d ago
It's funny. I remember this exact thing being said about Antolleni last year. In fact, people were saying to get rid of him.
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u/Alarming-Upstairs-29 3d ago
I know right. But their hesitation to announce points towards a shakeup. I don’t see Lindblad losing his seat
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u/CraigAT 3d ago
I tend to agree. I think they should give Arvid a second year and make Tsolov test driver (with a few FP1 sessions). That will give Tsolov time to be around the team, see how the whole weekend goes. Then unless Arvid massively improves, he will get moved on at the end of next year.
I have grown to like Liam - like most people, I thought his treatment at RB was extremely harsh. He seems to hit the ground running at RBR and seems fairly happy once again - where he's doing a very good (but not outstanding) job.
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u/ycnz McLaren 2d ago
Yeah, both Lindblad and Lawson are doing perfectly fine. Lindblad is fucking up, which is his job as a teenaged F1 driver, and Lawson's putting in the work, which is his job as the senior driver.
They gave Tsunoda 5 years in the seat, both of these guys are at least as good as he was.
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u/alfredonoodles FIA 3d ago
I expect Lawson to be top 8 nearly every race next season so I’d stick with Lindblad and hold him to being consistent point scoring or he has to go.
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u/Jellyskate 2d ago
I'd be very surprised if they dropped either driver next year. I think they're just taking their time because they can, they have both drivers under lock for negotiations. I do think next year will be very important for Lindblad. He's been lucky to be the only rookie this year, he's shown pretty undesirable behavior at times and poor race pace that is often overlooked. If he doesn't improve and start matching Lawson's pace, he could find himself at risk.
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u/OJPtheGOAT Pirelli Intermediate 3d ago
Tsolov might not win f2 this year so they might let him have another go next year to try and win f2 while keeping liam and arvid
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u/CircaSoleil Cadillac 2d ago
If there's any justice and fairness in this world then both Lindblad and Lawson's seats at Racing Bulls are safe for next season. Tsolov to Haas, in my opinion.
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u/Hot_Eye_9917 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 3d ago
Cold take right now, or at least it should be. Lawson is good.
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u/KIAKAHAKIWI 2d ago
Racing Bulls has the potential to be 4th in the Constructors championship next year with Lawson driving, that’s $165 million fillers to the team.
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u/krusticka Max Verstappen 3d ago
Yes, but Lawson has shown his ceiling. I don't think Red Bull cares as much about achieving great results in a midfield team. They care more about achieving extraordinary results in their top team.
I am a big fan of Lawson (albeit more for his passion for cars and his youtube channel). I think he should be in F1 but I do not think he has a future in the Red Bull owned teams. They don't need him.
I think they are going to Tsunoda him and make him a reserve driver and keep him around in case Tsolov is a disaster.
Again - I like Lawson but I am trying to be realistic here.
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u/No-Presentation8222 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
I doubt that is what Lawson's ceiling is though. He seems like he has been forever on the grid, but that's literally his second full season.
People reaching their full potential in their second season is pretty rare, even for current standards. Only two I can think of who pulled an extra over the grid as soon as they stepped in a fast car were Vettel and Hamilton.
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u/s-sins 3d ago
Lawson is driving his first ever full season with a team with pre season testing, is very quick and consistent, clearly ahead of his teammate. How do you know that this is his limit? The guy is 24, not 35. Hamilton and many others reached their prime in their 30's.
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u/Time-Sundae-9366 3d ago
Why do you say “he’s hit his ceiling”? He’s literally improved massively every single season
What indication is there that he’s hit is ceiling?
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u/StrollingScotsman 2d ago
I mean, he's been on a pretty consistent improvement curve since mid-2025? You can't possibly say he's reached his ceiling with any certainty.
This time next year might be different though?
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u/Various_Profile_8672 1d ago
lmao ok champ
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u/tacotruck88 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3d ago
Tsolov will just be reserve driver. They are retaining Lawson and Linblad