By: The recent confirmation of Racing Bulls’ driver pairing has definitively settled the matter of two highly coveted seats, leaving only one final vacancy for 2027: alongside Bearman at Haas.
Red Bull’s lengthy deliberations over its satellite team’s 2027 line-up seemed genuinely unjustified given Lawson’s exceptional season and rookie Arvid Lindblad’s solid debut, in which he held his own.
An abundance problem in the Red Bull academy
The problem for those managing Red Bull’s young drivers is an embarrassment of riches.
A wonderful problem, certainly, reflecting the strength of the Anglo-Austrian outfit’s academy, but a problem nonetheless.
In 2026, further unexpected headaches emerged, putting Milton Keynes’ senior management under serious pressure when it came to allocating the Faenza seats.
The first issue is Lindblad himself.
Red Bull has placed considerable faith in the British-Swedish driver, who has been given the best opportunities since 2021.
Lindblad’s performances, while excellent and showing considerable room for growth, pale in comparison with Lawson’s exceptional form. The New Zealander is the highest-ranked driver outside the eight competing for the four top teams.
Had Lindblad’s performances over the season been even slightly closer to those of his team-mate, making a clear impression in his debut campaign, nobody would have had any issue with dropping Lawson despite what he had shown.
The second major unforeseen development came from Lawson.
Nobody expected a season like the New Zealander’s, who clearly does not appear to enjoy the same favour and support among Red Bull’s senior management.
Dropping Lawson in favour of Tsolov would have been virtually unacceptable and probably counterproductive, because the 24-year-old from Hastings has more than demonstrated that, when the car allows him to, he consistently scores significant points. That brings in prize money Racing Bulls cannot do without.
Finally, there is Tsolov to manage — or rather, his rapid progress and the F2 regulations.
Did Red Bull want Lindblad and Tsolov?
Red Bull’s initial idea may have been to field a pairing of very young talents to develop in 2027, made up of Lindblad and Tsolov, fully in keeping with the primary purpose of the Faenza team.
The latter is another talent strongly backed by senior management and, in any case, must be found a place, especially if he becomes Formula 2 champion and is therefore required by the regulations to leave the category.
In the meantime, Tsolov will remain on hold as third driver for both Red Bull and Racing Bulls until at least next year.
An abundance problem, as we said, but still a problem — one that delayed the confirmation of the seats beyond what might reasonably have been expected and perhaps forced Red Bull into a decision it never wanted to make.
Cover photo by Ryan Fleming / WHYOUT Image
Internal photo by Ryan Fleming / WHYOUT Image
Internal photo by Finlay Williams / WHYOUT images
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