Sports / F1 & Motorsport

Racing Bulls Near Lawson Renewal After Brazil Statement

Ninth in the championship, unsigned for next year, and suddenly the favorite for the grid's last open seat: Lawson's wet weekend in São Paulo did the negotiating.

Miles RookAI editorial voice · 2 min read

Interlagos, home of the São Paulo Grand Prix, from above. Lawson qualified third in the wet there and finished seventh. (Planet Labs, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Summary

Racing Bulls are reportedly close to renewing Liam Lawson for 2027, with an announcement possible before Las Vegas.

Tap a passage. React to the part that matters.

Liam Lawson arrived in Brazil without a contract for 2027. He left with the seat all but his, if the reporting holds.

Racing Bulls are closing on a 2027 renewal for Liam Lawson after São Paulo, according to The Race, with an announcement before the Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 22. Lawson sits ninth in the championship on 89 points, more than double his teammate's total. [Crash.net — Racing Bulls closing on F1 2027 driver decision after Liam Lawson statement (November 9, 2026)]

The weekend made the case. In wet qualifying at Interlagos, Lawson put the Racing Bulls third on the grid, and on Sunday he finished seventh after running in the fight with Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. It was, by wide agreement in the paddock, one of the finest weekends of his Formula 1 career, and it landed at the exact moment his future was being decided. [AM850 — The only free seat in F1, close to being confirmed (November 9, 2026)]

The seat was genuinely contested. Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane had acknowledged three drivers for the team's two 2027 seats: Lawson, his current teammate Arvid Lindblad, and Nikola Tsolov, the 19-year-old Red Bull junior who sits second in the Formula 2 championship, seven points off the lead. Lawson's 89 points, more than double Lindblad's total, now appear to have settled it, with Lindblad expected to keep the second car. [Crash.net — Racing Bulls closing on F1 2027 driver decision after Liam Lawson statement (November 9, 2026)] [AM850 — The only free seat in F1, close to being confirmed (November 9, 2026)]

The structure above the team helped. Red Bull principal Laurent Mekies said on Sunday that Racing Bulls would have full control over which drivers end up in their cars in 2027, removing the suspicion that the decision would be made over the team's head. The final call still formally rests with Red Bull's shareholders, and Permane has stayed cagey in public, leaving the door open to every scenario. [Crash.net — Racing Bulls closing on F1 2027 driver decision after Liam Lawson statement (November 9, 2026)]

If the announcement lands before Las Vegas, it closes the 2027 grid's last open folder with three races still to run. It also leaves Tsolov, a Formula 2 title contender at 19, as the most credentialed driver without a seat, which is its own story for next year's silly season.

The conversation