Red Bull will run Liam Lawson at the Dutch Grand Prix after Isack Hadjar injured his wrist during the summer break, forcing an unplanned change to the team's driver roster for Zandvoort.
Hadjar, the French driver, is understood to have broken his wrist while boxing and will be unavailable for this weekend's race. The team has tapped New Zealander Liam Lawson, who normally competes for Red Bull's second team Racing Bulls, to fill the vacancy on a temporary basis.
Lawson's move creates a second slot to fill, and Red Bull has promoted Japan's Yuki Tsunoda, its reserve driver, into Lawson's Racing Bulls seat. Tsunoda was dropped from the leading team at the end of last season and will now return to regular race duties for the weekend.
The call-up offers Lawson a short window to reverse earlier setbacks. He was due to race alongside Max Verstappen throughout 2025, but was demoted to Racing Bulls after the first two grands prix following two lacklustre performances. The draft notes that Lawson recorded disappointing results in those early 2025 races, and this weekend will provide a chance to atone.
Red Bull arrive at Zandvoort amid a difficult first half of 2026. Four-time world champion Max Verstappen is yet to win a race this season, his best results so far being second places in Austria and Hungary. The Dutchman had closed 2025 strongly, finishing the year two points behind world champion Lando Norris of McLaren after a second-half revival that recovered more than 100 points on the championship lead.
The Dutch Grand Prix will be Verstappen's final home appearance at Zandvoort, with organisers unable to keep the event financially viable and the circuit set to drop off the calendar after this season. For Red Bull the immediate test is straightforward: adopt the three-driver shuffle and see whether Lawson can steady a struggling campaign while Verstappen seeks that elusive first win of 2026.
