One of the last open questions of the Formula 1 silly season closed on Thursday morning. Racing Bulls confirmed an unchanged line-up for 2027, with Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad both extending their contracts. For Lawson, it ends weeks of public uncertainty. For Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov, the wait for a race seat goes on.
The seat everyone was watching
Few drives on the grid drew as much attention this autumn. Tsolov, the 19-year-old Bulgarian, had emerged as the obvious candidate to replace Lawson, and Racing Bulls handed him private testing and a rookie FP1 outing at the Mexico City Grand Prix, according to Autosport. Team principal Alan Permane repeatedly insisted that no decision had been made, and described the team as "trying to apply a little bit of science" to reach the right one.
The case for change was clear on paper. Racing Bulls exists in part to prepare drivers for the senior Red Bull team, and Tsolov led the Formula 2 championship until the previous round, when Ferrari junior and incoming Haas driver Rafael Câmara moved ahead. Câmara now leads by seven points, a title fight covered in The Global Guest List's look at his Las Vegas dilemma.
Why Lawson stayed
In the end, results made the argument. Lawson has been the team's lead scorer through a season that has Racing Bulls fifth in the Teams' Championship, 45 points clear of Alpine, according to Formula1.com's analysis. The Faenza squad has never finished as high as fifth in its 20-year history.
The timing of his best form mattered too. With Tsolov waiting in the wings, Lawson followed ninth place in Austin with two seventh-place finishes across the Americas triple-header. Sources told Autosport during the São Paulo weekend that, despite a strong push from parts of the Red Bull leadership to back Tsolov, the pendulum had swung back in Lawson's favour.
It is a notable turnaround for a driver whose career looked fragile at the start of 2025, when a promotion to Red Bull Racing lasted only two rounds before he returned to the sister team. The 24-year-old New Zealander, who made his debut at Zandvoort in 2023, will now start his third full season in Formula 1.
Results made the argument, and Lawson delivered his strongest drives with a replacement waiting in the wings.
In their own words
Lawson called it "a historic season for the team" and pointed to the fight for fifth. "I'm looking forward to carrying this moment forward with Arvid through to 2027; we're building something super positive and I'm excited by what we can achieve together," he said in the team's announcement.
Lindblad, the British teenager who graduated straight into a race seat this year, described his debut campaign as "a truly special year, full of new experiences and learnings since the very first pre-season test," and said he looked forward to "building on everything I've learned during my rookie season."
Permane left no room for doubt about the choice. "I have no doubt that this is the best driver line-up for us, bringing a strong combination of experience and ambition," he said.
What comes next for Tsolov
Racing Bulls has not confirmed Tsolov's role for 2027. Formula1.com reports that a reserve position is the likely route, keeping him close to the team while he waits, and that Red Bull still rates him highly. In the meantime, his immediate focus is a Formula 2 title chase against Câmara, with the series due to race alongside Formula 1 in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
For Racing Bulls, attention returns to the track. The final triple-header opens at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 22, followed by Qatar on November 29 and Abu Dhabi on December 6, with a best-ever constructors' result still to be secured.
