Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane is sure the team’s decision on its driver line-up for next season will leave everyone satisfied.

The team is heading to its best-ever finishing position in the constructors’ championship with its current line-up of Liam Lawson, who is in his second full season as an F1 driver, and rookie Arvid Lindblad. However the team also exists to train potential future drivers for its sister team Red Bull, and upcoming Formula 2 racer Nikola Tsolov has been tipped for a seat.

However Permane indicated Red Bull may change their approach to handling young drivers. The team has not hesitated to change driver line-ups at short notice in recent years.

Red Bull demoted Lawson back to Racing Bulls after he made just two starts for the team last year. In 2023 Red Bull overlooked promoting Lawson to its junior team in favour of Nyck de Vries, who made just a dozen appearances before being shown the door.

“Red Bull’s had a very successful young driver programme, and I don’t want to be critical of it, but I think if you guys [the media] are critical of it, maybe sometimes the drivers haven’t been able to have enough time to settle, or maybe some snap decisions have been made,” said Permane.

“We’re trying to apply a little bit of science, and that takes some time. So we are looking at everything and studying, analysing, and time is on our side.

“We’re not in a rush to do anything and I’m very confident the right decision will be made.”

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Lawson, who has scored 69 of Racing Bulls’ 108 points so far this year, said this week he doesn’t know what more he can do to secure his place at the team. “I don’t know what else they want me to do,” said Lawson following his drive from the pit lane to seventh place in the Mexican Grand Prix.

“I realise it’s frustrating for our drivers,” Permane acknowledged, “I realise it’s frustrating for everyone else, but we want to get it right, and we will get it right.

“I’m sure when we announce it in the coming weeks, everyone will be happy.”

Permane refused to confirm whether the team might guarantee Tsolov a place at the team in 2028 while committing to its current line-up for next season.

“All solutions are possible,” he said. “I’m not going to give you any clues on what we’re going to do because, honestly, we’re almost there, but we’re not finalised. I don’t want to say one thing or the other on that.”

Racing Bulls has confirmed Permane’s future at the team. It announced yesterday he will remain in charge until at least 2031.

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