With Isack Hadjar still recovering from his injury, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda will continue to drive for Red Bull and Racing Bulls, respectively, during the 2026 F1 Spanish GP weekend.
The Milton Keynes outfit announced on August 19 that Hadjar had sustained a wrist injury during the summer break, thereby ruling him out of the season-resuming event at Zandvoort. As Lawson stepped up from the satellite squad to substitute for the French-Algerian driver, Tsunoda filled in for the New Zealander.
As it stands, Hadjar, who currently sits eighth in the Drivers’ Championship standings, will remain on the sidelines at Madring as well. Carrying out further medical evaluations, Red Bull have decided that he is not yet fully fit to drive at the Spanish GP this weekend.
While his future within the Red Bull stable remains uncertain, delivering strong results in this spell would certainly make a convincing case for Lawson’s renewal with Racing Bulls for the upcoming season.
Meanwhile, Tsunoda will look forward to demonstrating his adaptability once again in Madrid. Stacking up well against teammate Arvid Lindblad would put him back on the radar of the F1 pit lane. His first point in 2026 came last Sunday at Monza.
How the substitute drivers had fared at Zandvoort
The 2026 Dutch GP marked Liam Lawson’s first race for Red Bull since his brief two-round stint in 2025, with the team subsequently demoting him back to Racing Bulls in a direct swap with Yuki Tsunoda.
After setting the eleventh-fastest time in Sprint qualifying, the 24-year-old finished the 24-lap Sprint race right where he started in P11.
Lawson delivered a standout performance in the Grand Prix format to reach Q3 and qualify eighth, ending up just 0.115 seconds behind teammate Max Verstappen.
In Sunday’s race, the Kiwi overcame a 10-second penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags to finish P7. While the four-time World Champion crashed out on the opening lap, he finally managed to score his first points as a Red Bull Racing driver.
Having lost his full-time drive at the end of last season and taken up the role of test and reserve driver for both Red Bull and Racing Bulls, Tsunoda temporarily filled Lawson’s vacant seat at Zandvoort.
Following a single hour of practice, Tsunoda found himself P12 in Sprint qualifying, just 0.009 seconds behind Lawson—the driver he was subbing for. In the Sprint, he lost a place to Franco Colapinto and finished in thirteenth place.
The Japanese driver took P12 once again in the second segment of Grand Prix qualifying. However, the smaller gap of 0.102 seconds to his teammate reflected his improved confidence in that session.
On Sunday, Tsunoda and his friend and former teammate Pierre Gasly battled for the final point—creating a spectacle that lasted for much of the race. Ultimately, the 26-year-old narrowly missed out on tenth place.
Performance of Lawson and Tsunoda at Monza and their hopes for the 2026 Spanish GP
Liam Lawson was knocked out of qualifying in P14 at Monza after McLaren’s Oscar Piastri impeded him on his final Q2 run. He started from the back of the grid on Sunday due to his Red Bull being fitted with new power unit components.
Car 30 was quickly on the move, and Lawson had climbed to P15 by the time Charles Leclerc’s crash triggered the red flag. He was battling hard for P11 with Nico Hülkenberg when the pair clashed at Turn 4 on Lap 14. It left the 24-year-old with a broken front wing.
Pitting for a new wing and a set of medium tyres, Lawson eventually crossed the line in P14.
Following a difficult qualifying session that saw him fail to make it through to Q2, Yuki Tsunoda lined up in fifteenth for the race.
The Japanese driver escaped a penalty for causing an extra formation lap at the restart and made it up into the points-scoring positions by Lap 7. He then managed to overtake Ollie Bearman and found himself running in P9.
On Lap 41, Franco Colapinto made a move on Tsunoda to secure ninth place. The 26-year-old ultimately came home in P10, contributing to the sixth double-points finish for Racing Bulls in the Grand Prix format this season.
As he acts as Isack Hadjar’s replacement once again, Lawson’s objective for F1’s inaugural event at Madring will be to keep up with Verstappen in qualifying and drive a clean, steady race to maximise his weekend.
On the other hand, Racing Bulls will seek to extend the gap to their closest rivals, Alpine, at the Spanish GP. Tsunoda’s main tasks will entail building on his experience from Zandvoort and Monza and potentially finishing in the top ten.
