Lawson earns surprise Red Bull recall at Zandvoort after rebuilding career at Racing Bulls

Liam Lawson has been handed an unexpected return to Red Bull for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, stepping in for Isack Hadjar, who is sidelined with a hand injury. The recall is a striking full-circle moment: Zandvoort was the venue where Lawson made his Formula 1 debut in 2023, deputising for an injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri.

That five-race stint two years ago ultimately served as Lawson’s springboard into a full-time seat. Red Bull promoted him over Yuki Tsunoda for the 2025 season, but after two difficult weekends the 24-year-old was swapped back to the satellite team — now rebranded Racing Bulls — in a move that left him with almost no time to find his footing in a competitive car.

Rather than let the demotion derail him, Lawson responded with quiet determination. He has grown steadily at Racing Bulls alongside rookie Arvid Lindblad, leading the qualifying head-to-head 8-6 while helping the Anglo-Italian outfit climb to sixth in the constructors’ standings.

“A lot of things have happened this year that have made me a lot stronger,” Lawson said, reflecting on his brief and turbulent Red Bull stint at the end of last season. “Two races was… I honestly don’t even really remember them.”

Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane has tracked the transformation closely. “We could tell he certainly wasn’t the same guy,” Permane said on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast. “I don’t want to say we rebuilt him because that’s a little bit dramatic, but we just supported and helped him where we could. He worked hard in the simulator, he worked hard off track and on track, and I think we saw that culminating with some really, really good performances.”

Permane added that Lawson’s relationship with his engineers has matured noticeably. “He’s laser-focused and you can see that in his driving. He’s much more aware of the car, he works better and closer with his engineers, he knows what he wants from the car.”

Hadjar, meanwhile, had been the marginally quicker of the two Racing Bulls drivers over a single lap across the season and is already confirmed to step up to the senior Red Bull team for 2026 — a decision the team considered straightforward given his consistent form.

For Lawson, this weekend at Zandvoort is a short-term opportunity rather than a guaranteed path back to the top team. But given how he has responded to adversity before, few in the paddock will be writing him off.