Red Bull’s driver swap for the Dutch Grand Prix has reignited discussion about the advantages of Formula 1 teams operating under shared ownership.
After Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar suffered a wrist fracture before the race weekend at Zandvoort, the Milton Keynes-based team promoted Liam Lawson from sister outfit Racing Bulls. Lawson joined Max Verstappen for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Racing Bulls then promoted reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda to partner rookie Arvid Lindblad, filling the vacancy created by Lawson’s move.
Red Bull benefits from shared driver pool
Former W Series driver and Sky Sports analyst Naomi Schiff said Red Bull benefited from promoting a driver already familiar with the 2026-specification cars, rather than relying on a reserve driver with less experience in the machinery.
“It seems to be a little bit of an advantage to be able to put someone in who’s already currently driving these cars and I guess Ferrari is the only other team that would probably call on Oliver Bearman,” Schiff explained during an episode of the Up To Speed podcast after co-host and former F1 driver David Coulthard claimed there is a “strength and depth” in Red Bull in that it can pull in drivers from its sister team.
“Whereas Mercedes have Fred Vesti, who travels with them to most of the races, so it would most likely be him. I do think it works out to be an advantage for Liam, but I think that doesn’t take away from the fact that that was probably a daunting environment for him to step back into, although it does look very different than what it was, what he left behind.”
Lawson finished the Dutch Grand Prix in seventh place, scoring six points for Red Bull. The team has not yet confirmed whether Hadjar will return for the Italian Grand Prix.
