> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-race.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Racing Bulls boss gets new contract - but where's Lawson's? - URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/whats-going-on-with-lawsons-blurry-f1-future/ - Published: 2026-11-06T10:07:12.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-06T11:18:27.000Z - Description: Racing Bulls F1 team boss Alan Permane has been given a big new extension but Liam Lawson's future remains in limbo - Author: Scott Mitchell-Malm - Tags: Formula 1, #racing-bulls, #liam-lawson, #primary_homepage_feature Racing Bulls has re-signed its Formula 1 team leader until 2031 - but that new deal is for team boss Alan Permane, not Liam Lawson, whose future remains “blurry” at best. Permane, who is ‘co-CEO’ at Racing Bulls, focusing on sporting matters as well as team principal, has signed a long-term contract extension at the team he joined in 2024 after a 34-year career as an increasingly pivotal part of ‘Team Enstone’ through its time as Benetton, Renault and all its myriad identities. A new Permane deal is deserved. He has overseen enough improvement that the second Red Bull team is on course to secure its best ever result in F1 by finishing fifth in the constructors’ championship. But that is a result to which Lawson, out of contract at the end of the year, has also been pivotal. And though the contractual situation of a team’s hierarchy is not obliged to play second fiddle to the future of its drivers, it is quite the timing to announce a new deal for the team boss when the F1 world is waiting for a resolution to – and increasingly confused by – Lawson’s situation. “It's pretty blurry at the moment, honestly,” Lawson said on Thursday in Brazil this week when asked when the team might tell him about his future. “Not much indication at the moment.” Racing Bulls – which also means Red Bull, given it pulls the strings where drivers are concerned – is yet to confirm which of Lawson, rookie team-mate Arvid Lindblad, and Formula 2 title contender Nikola Tsolov will race in F1 next year. Tsolov has been considered next in line for a very long time. Back in September, Permane had indicated a decision would be made “in the coming weeks” and wanted “to take a little bit more time and make sure we get the right pairing for next year”. Lawson is ninth in the drivers’ championship on 83 points. Subtract the points he and Lindblad scored while Lawson was in a Red Bull for three races mid-season and he is beating the impressive rookie 69-32 in the standings. Lindblad’s one-lap pace has been particularly strong this year, but Lawson has used his experience well, upped his game all-round and been a clear team leader overall. Unfortunately that is not enough on its own. As Permane said: ”Top of the list is speed and pace and all that goes with that. But there's lots, of course, in the background because we're in a slightly unique situation, I guess. “We want to bring on young drivers, we want to bring on young talent, and of course we have one eye on them progressing in the future. “So, it's not just about the here and now, it's also about what they can do in the future.” Lawson’s ‘here and now’ is very good. But he clearly hasn’t shown enough within the Red Bull family to be a top-level Red Bull Racing option again, which seems to be what matters most of all. Racing Bulls’ primary sporting purpose is still, ultimately, to be a driver finishing school for the main team. Having [dropped Lawson](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/red-bull-swaps-liam-lawson-for-yuki-tsunoda-what-you-need-to-know/) from the senior team ruthlessly after two races last year, Red Bull does not think he has a long-term place at either team. So the implication is they are wondering if it’s worth keeping Lawson around rather than building up anew with Lindblad and Tsolov. It’s a big shame, as Lawson has evidently proved himself worthy of a place on the grid this season. The sad reality is that if Racing Bulls were its own sporting entity, which it should be, his future would surely be a non-issue – but Lawson wouldn’t be at Racing Bulls in the first place without Red Bull, nor would Lindblad be alongside him, and nor would Tsolov be an option. Unfortunately, you can’t separate the ideal sporting reality of Racing Bulls from the complex wider reality it exists in. Linked to that – it also sounds like Lawson could be paying the price for a [silly incident in Mexico](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-and-lawson-get-grid-drops-for-clumsy-mexico-clash/). He did not endear himself to the Max Verstappen side of the Red Bull equation with their needless run-in in Mexico, which prompted Verstappen to make a remark about Lawson’s uncertain future. Whether you think either was more to blame than the other does not really matter; what was curious in Brazil is Lawson seemingly implying it changed something. Lawson said “I definitely didn't think it'd have such an impact”, and admitted that the joy of finishing seventh after starting from the pitlane was diminished by his wider situation. “It was hard,” he said. “Every day was just a hard day with everything that was happening. Even though the race was great, I probably hadn't quite got over the weekend’s…or the things that had happened over that weekend.” It might all work out in his favour, but it’s becoming more of a story than anyone realistically expected it would. As good as Tsolov could be – and he definitely deserves a chance sooner or later – it’s absurd that the season in which Lawson is making by far his most compelling ever case to stay on as a grand prix driver is the one in which he has no security whatsoever. But with Verstappen and Isack Hadjar locked in at Red Bull Racing, if the mentality is that Racing Bulls must serve the senior team for the longer term, you can see how the door opens to Lawson being jettisoned – even if he doesn’t deserve it.