Lawson future looks increasingly bleak at Racing Bulls

Liam Lawson’s Formula 1 future appears increasingly uncertain after Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer stopped short of backing the New Zealander for 2027.

Speaking on ORF, Bayer instead praised Nikola Tsolov’s Mexico FP1 appearance and stressed Racing Bulls’ role as a development team.

"To be honest, Nikola performed brilliantly on Friday," he said.

"It was his first time in the car, and he’s fit into the team absolutely perfectly."

When asked whether Lawson had done enough to prove the seat should remain his, Bayer replied: "Well, absolutely. That’s the general opinion in the paddock."

But he immediately added: "At the same time, our role as the leading talent development team in Formula 1 is to constantly develop new drivers."

"In total, we’ve brought 22 drivers into Formula 1, including the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Verstappen, and others."

Bayer said the final decision rests with team principal Alan Permane.

"We discussed this briefly yesterday," he revealed.

The comments come after Lawson’s controversial clash with Max Verstappen in Mexico, although Lawson’s emotional demeanour after Sunday’s race has also raised speculation that he may already know his fate.

"It’s been a very tough weekend, to be honest," Lawson told Viaplay.

"What happened on Friday was not ideal. I have already said that I will learn from this. I never intended it would have such a big impact."

When asked when he expected news about his future, Lawson paused before answering simply: "I don’t know."

Viaplay analyst and former F1 tester Ho-Pin Tung said Lawson’s expression reminded him of the period immediately before his demotion from Red Bull last year.

"The same facial expression that I saw then, I saw again," he said.

"It could very well be that he already knows more."