P1 with Matt and Tommy - Liam Lawson in at Red Bull and YUKI TSUNODA in at VCARB for Zandvoort | Our reaction

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

The Dutch Grand Prix curse strikes again! Isack Hadjar’s unfortunate injury means Liam Lawson is stepping into the Red Bull and YUKI TSUNODA is back in the Racing Bulls!We break down what this seismic news means for all three drivers and how both Yuki and Liam might fare in what will be a hugely challenging weekend for both of them.  We will not be going on tour next year! So if you want to come and see our brand new live show 'Super Podding' this autumn, get your tickets here: http:/tix.to/p1liveSign up to our Patreon for just $5 a month! You'll get access to every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every 2026 race review, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommyFollow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTokP1 with Matt and Tommy is the world's biggest F1 podcast. Subscribe for new podcasts around every single race throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 podcast with Matt and Tommy, emergency edition. We are literally flying to Amsterdam in a matter of hours. And we have seen the news that this ridiculous thing that apparently only ever happens at Zandvoort is happening again. A wrist injury, Hachar out. and the dominoes have begun. Yeah, we're going to get, you know, Liam Lawson in changing again into Formula One for a wrist injury again at Zanvall of all places. What a bizarre thing to happen. And you mention about we're about to fly for our show.

Thank goodness we're not on a plane this time because I feel like there was one story, and maybe even have been, I think it was maybe Daniel Ricardo returning, I think, in the first place, where we were on a plane and we're like, oh no, what do we do? But at least we can record this, thankfully. Yeah, we pushed the private jet back, didn't we tell me? Yeah, yeah. I'm kidding. We're flying economy easy, Jay.

We said Dominicali, please just. Yeah. Oh, yeah, like he would fly us out. Right. Okay, so lots to get into, as we say, an emergency podcast. The sirens are going off. It's a big one. So Hadjar out for the Dutch Grand Prix

and the big talking point of course I mean there's a couple of big talking points Lawson in at Red Bull Sonoda in at V-Carb Let's start with Isaac Hajjar Of course the one to fall by the wayside here We of course wish him a speedy recovery Massive disappointment for him I'm sure

Question marks as to just how long this will take When he sustained the injury and so on and so forth Of course we are reacting to this news and I'm sure we'll hear more as it comes in. But for Hadjar, yeah, devastating for him, of course, to have this massive summer break and now starting back up, not being able to participate. It's getting for him to, you know, going to the second half of the season,

hoping for a great result. Of course, he got that podium here last year for V-Cab. You know, a track he went incredibly well at. So looking forward to getting back in a Formula One car. and instead, yeah, he's going to be missing this Grand Prix. We're yet to know if we'll miss more. There is a week after Zandvort, which is strange because then it's triple-header central. So maybe we'll wait to see how bad of an injury it is for Hajjohn,

whether he can return, but wishing him a speedy recovery, of course, because it's never nice to see. But in terms of the actual story and how. how we've got this like a bit of a domino effect and a bit of a shuffling around of the the red bull drivers is really, really fascinating because there's been a lot of talk about that red bull seat and the timing of it, you know, we're going to get to see Liam Lawson essentially have another go in different circumstances essentially. So yeah, it's very, it's going to be, it's going to be fascinating to see how they both do.

Unsurprisingly, lots of questions from you wonderful lot. So let's begin with people on Patreon member Illaria. Why the extra shuffle for Yuki to V-Carb and not to Red Bull? I think this is a very simple decision here for Red Bull. I'm not surprised in the slightest that Sonoda's not getting the call up to the main team. Purely because we are in a brand new set of regulations right now. from my understanding, Sonoda has not driven in real life, the 2026 edition of this Formula One car. And it is a massive step difference, as we've spoken about on the podcast, countless times.

So much to learn. Of course, he will have been in the simulator, and I'm sure he will be frantically in the simulator the minute that, well, the internal news, I imagine, of Hajar having this injury and Yuki needing to step up somewhere. and he would have been putting the work in. And he still has a huge amount of work to be able to achieve anything for this weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix with V-Carb. I think this is a really difficult thing for Sonoda to just jump in at because of how I see these cars being like spaceships, so so, so complicated. But for the extra shuffle, there's no point for Red Bull to put him in at in the main team because I think he's going to struggle.

I think they probably would accept that he will struggle. as well and you don't put them in the main team when they want as many points in the constructors as possible they want to be getting the best results possible so yeah so instead they put them in V-carb which to be fair there is an argument here where you go are Red Bull going to finish higher than fourth in the constructors this year unlikely and then you look at V-cab who are currently tied in a battle with Alpine and probably Audi moving forward as well but again on the flip side of that Red Bull the main team are always going to take priority and what

they want. Yeah, certainly. That's where the big points are going to be scored. And you want Liam Lawson in that car, not Yuki Sanoda, because Lawson has driven this type of Formula One car for this season. Yes, it's a different Formula One car. We've not seen a driver switch yet, which I think is going to be another interesting element to this where in years gone by, you know, some, you can go into different teams and it not make too much of a different. other years it's almost impossible and they're completely different beasts. We'll find out, I think, in this situation, because it's a bit of a guessing game. We don't know yet, but it completely makes sense to do this what Red Bull have done with the whole

Sonoda going to V-Carb because Lawson's having this great season. And you could argue that Yuki, with the greatest respect to him, is not in Red Bull's future plans. You know, we're having this conversation about when we're did our 2027 predictions of what next for Lawson? Does he need to move to another team? Does he have another chance at Red Bull? Well, now he's got one. And if he does a really good job, who knows what could happen.

But for Yuki, putting him in that Red Bull is kind of like, well, he's never going to return to Red Bull. Whereas I think Lawson maybe has a chance. And of course, Lawson's had this amazing season and we've been talking about like, oh, it's such a shame that Lawson didn't get to drive the Red Bull when it was like this and have a proper go at it. Well, he's going to do that now. So, yeah, it makes sense. And also, there's another underlying thing of at least it means that the V-carb can have a break from Lawson and Limblad going wheel to wheel through every corner for a race weekend, basically. I'm sure they're breathing a sigh of relief about that.

I'm sure they are. And also another factor we've not even considered is that it is a sprint weekend. One practice session and then you're straight into competitive racing. God, yeah, good luck. I think that honestly, I will be astounded if Lawson or Sonoda do a decent job in terms of like being anywhere near their teammate. And that's no disrespect to them. Anybody jumping in last minute, especially if you've never driven the car, I think is a really tough test for them. You know, Red Ball, we know that the characteristics of that car is very different to the V-Carb.

So, yeah, I mean, look, I think they've got nothing to lose. I think Lawson's got nothing to lose going into the Red Bull for one weekend. Maybe one we can, we don't know. And then for Yuki, this is kind of like a last hurrah, in my opinion. Like, he's got this opportunity. I think he should just go and try and enjoy it. As you say, you know, there's rumors around him going to Indycar and things like that. If he does absolutely smash it out the park beats Limblad, then maybe.

this turns into a job interview all of a sudden but I don't see that happening just purely because all the odds are stacked against both Yuki and Liam I think respectively to do a remarkable job that will change their career trajectory in my opinion if Yuki Sunoda yeah absolutely smashes it

is really really quick finishes P5 then we're seeing Maxa Stappan in the V-Cab for the next race he's done it again that's crazy yeah yeah Max has got a wrist in He just wants to go and drive for V-CATR. Yeah, yeah.

The Red Bull's a bit heavier, so I'm just going to have to drive the V-cab. Sorry. Okay, next question. People on Patreon member, Phillyberger. Will this move interrupt Lawson's current good form? There'll be the element of the fact that he's driving so well in the V-car. He's very comfortable with it. He's on this amazing run, an amazing season where he's scoring points consistently.

He's just been really, really consistent in that V-carb and just bagging points all the time. But at the end of the day for Liam Lawson, he has to go to this. He can't be like, well, now I'm actually, I'm going to stay at V-Carb because I don't want to go. And he's actually in quite a good position that, as you say, there's very little expectation on him going into this because of the fact that it's really like broken up, he's going into a sprint weekend. He's not going to have a lot of time in the car. So the bar is quite low. Obviously, if he does as badly as he did the first time, it doesn't look great at all, and I don't think he will. And he's, of course, against a teammate of Max Rastappen, who Hajjar hasn't even beaten in a race,

so he's not expected to beat him. But if he is there or thereabouts, it looks great for him, and he's got the opportunity to do something very good, and it's not even a case of, like, him impressing Red Bull. There's the potential for Lawson to really show something. to other teams across the grid because there's always been that question mark this year of how good it actually is Lawson. I think he's done a great, you know, we both have,

he was very high up in our drive ratings, whatever, but he is, the V-carb is a very strong car this year and he's got a rookie teammate, whereas, you know, this is a huge opportunity for him to show something really special. So it's a kind of, it will interrupt him, for sure, but he's got to take it. You have to take these opportunities in Formula One,

and it's a huge opportunity for him to showcase what he can do in a top team and maybe what a redemption story it would be after how bad it was at Red Bull that time. And then if he does have a really good race, rumour mill will go crazy, I think. I'm sure it will. For this question, I've kind of seen it in two different ways, one being interrupt being just this one race weekend, course it will I think he

will have struggles to get up to speed with this car in one hour of practice but then there's the bigger question of will this interrupt it going forward as well when he goes back to V-Carb I think the only way that that could possibly happen is if he has a disastrous

weekend where it plays on his mind and there's talk about like I know you couldn't step up to the plate all this sort of stuff I really has what he did last year where it took him a little while to get back into the groove at the cup yeah yeah potentially But I don't see that happening personally. I think as Lawson, as long as Lawson doesn't, it keeps it out the wall, maybe even makes Q3 or something and just has us a clean weekend.

That's all you can ask from him. So yeah, but these kind of things are so fascinating, aren't they? Because we really don't know just how good these drivers are going to be in a different setting. Yeah, you mentioned about Q3. That's interesting because there'd be an argument of like, you know, when we're talking about Hadjar and how there's, you know, this chasm between. between the midfield and had you of course should be getting in Q3 I guess this is the thing we don't we don't know how difficult it is to jump into a car so so had he been in the car all season you'd say well absolutely like anything other than Q3 is an absolute disaster but then you kind of got I think I think it helps that you're going to see a bit of leeway of the fact that you've got two different drivers in a new package essentially you you saw this you saw this news coming I've just realized you've got one of your predictions was that two of the top four teams yeah how do you make you three and had jar had you're locked in I think that's cancelled now if you are by the

way going to see our predictions episode we've of course recorded this before the news and we don't have time to re-record it because we're flying in case some people are like oh why you're talking about had you're like that I can't even remember if we did or not but no caveat that that that was that's already ready to go and then this just drops when we we wake up. Should we do a little prediction at the end? Fine. Do it?

Why not? Where do they qualify in the very first session or something? Oh, qualify. Okay. All right. Fair enough. Fair enough. Let's go to another one.

P1 pitch. Remember a good Karen. Is this Liam's audition to be considered for repromotion to Red Bull if Max leaves? Ooh. Do I think, I don't see Liam Lawson being Max Verstappen's replacement if this massive bombshell. happens because I feel as though Red Bull will then scramble around to try and find at least a race winner,

someone to take the headlines, Red Bull sign, XYZ. So. Spiastry. Yeah. Well, I mean, sign sounds like maybe that's not going to happen anytime soon if he's signing something big with Williams, but that's also a rumor at the moment. But yeah, I think that it would be a case for Liam Lawson to replace Hadjar if Hadjar isn't able to go go on the sort of path that Rebel want him to.

But to replace for Stappen, no, I think this is a great audition for Liam Lawson in general for the top four teams to see. I mean, Liam Lawson's already done the stepping in at Zandvoort before and did pretty pretty well. This is now another one and I think a bigger one because he's more, well known in Formula One now. You know, we've seen great performances from him. And how will he cope with this sort of, it is going to be added pressure for him.

Of course it is. as much as we maybe see it as a, it's all right, mate, just, just finish the weekend. Liam's going to see this as, yeah, this is my big moment to showcase to everybody that I have got what it takes. Yeah, I think it's more showcasing to everyone rather than Red Bull, because unfortunately for Liam, I totally agree with you in the fact that if Max leaves, they're going to want to replace him with a big name because you would think Red Bull would still be a top team, certainly in that top four, even if they are the fourth best car,

you think they're going to want to have a name like a Piastriacin or whoever wants to step over if Max goes and have a race winner in there. For Lawson, the interesting thing about that is the fact that, no matter how well he does, unless he wins the race, which is probably a big ask, we're going to see Hadjar in any kind of threat. And because of... You're not think.

Because I think if Liam Lawson is as good as what we've seen Hadjar do this year on his first outing in the Red Bull, I think that has question marks on it. I think it has question marks on it. But do you really think if he was as good as Hadjar straight away, we'd be saying, look, okay, let Hadjar isn't doing as good of a job. But they would argue, well, Hadjar is still only in his second season of Formula One. He's learning. he's learning or whatever

and yes I would agree the fact that you'd go well actually that probably suggests Lawson's maybe a bit better and got better than Hadjar but is it enough to brutally basically get rid of Hadjar?

I don't think so perhaps we've not seen maybe if Helmut Marco was still there but I don't feel like we're going to see the brutalness anymore of Lawson comes in, does a really good job and they go, oh yeah, actually, Lawson, you are better than Hadjar, see you later Hadjar, back to V-Cab, you go, sorry, and just burn his career.

Like, it's just not going to happen. You mentioned about Hadjar's inexperience. Lawson's not got much more under his belt, so you could, they are reasonably similar. Lawson, of course, has about an extra season worth of races over Hadjar. But I think there would be at least question marks over where is Liam Lawson's ceiling if he is able to jump into that rebel, which is much more likely than Sonoda having a stellar weekend in my opinion, because Lawson is at least familiar with how these cars work. But yeah, it would take a lot for them to be savage and just say, Hajah, see you later.

But we've seen crazier things, that's for sure. Next question. People on pitch, remember R&B sheep? Could this be the return for Yuki into Formula One for next season? I think it'd have to do something really, really, really special. I don't think he's part of Red Bull's plans. Essentially, they've got Lawson doing really well, Max potentially staying, yeah, Lawson doing really well, Hadjar not going anywhere and doing a solid job at Red Bull, Limblad doing well at V-Cab and Solov, who's doing really well in Formula 2. so there's no room at the inn for yuki the only way i see anything happening for yuki is if somehow

which again i'm more more inclined to go down your direction of the fact that i can't see yuki doing anything too special because i think it's going to be a big ask with the fact that he's not driven this season he does something absolutely unbelievable and has go oh yeah actually we do want experience next year um that's that's all like see and I really don't don't see that or or Ashton Martin thinking oh actually when Alonzo goes we want a Japanese driver in for Honda yeah maybe we we go down that route or something I don't I don't see it personally as much as I love Yuki love his personality I don't see this being a return for him as I've already kind of stated I think that the odds are stacked against

him one practice session straight into sprint qualifying genuinely, and I don't mean this with any disrespect, if he makes it out of Q1, it's a great result for him. And I don't see him challenging anywhere near where Lindblad will be because he will be learning the entire car within the first hour of free practice and then he's straight into sprint qualifying. So I don't see it personally. I would love to have teams consider him,

but he would have to show something remarkable in order to sort of enter the conversations in my opinion. And then I guess there's a talking point. Some people have been asking it around why not test Solov, who is of course leading Formula 2. Well, it's a simple answer. He does not have enough super licence points. He currently only has 25 after finishing second in Formula 3. Doesn't get any of his points right now, even though he's doing really, really well, impressing, will he get a seat? All these question marks, he has not secured any extra points and therefore cannot step in for the injured Hajar or step in at V-Carb with the shift for Lawson to Red Bull? No, we are going to see him at some point for sure doing like a free practice

to get some experience. Surprised we've not seen him earlier and before because of course there's a lot of rumours that he's been promised to seat next year or he might he might go somewhere and could well easily win Formula 2. They'd he will have enough points, of course, even if he's in the top three, it'll be fine. So, yeah, we're going to see him at some point, but this has come kind of too early for him to get the opportunity. Absolutely. Right, Tommy, we have to lock in those predictions that we teased earlier as to where both Lawson and Sonoda will qualify in the very first qualifying sessions. That would be Sprint Quali. Sprint quality. We've had an hour of practice straight in. So let's start with Yuki Sanon.

Where will he qualify for sprint qualifying one? I'm on the fly right now. I am going to say he will qualify 20th. I had a bear of Cadillacs. Yes. Yeah, I can see your logic there. I'm going to go 17th. Oh, and that would be a bang of qualifying.

As much as it sounds like it's slander. It's really not. Because as I say, this is a tough, tough weekend for Sonoda. to step up. And then Lawson, Tommy, over to you. I'm going to go 8th. Okay. I am going to go 9th. Oh. So I felt like maybe Linblad will beat him

in the V-carb just purely because of familiarity. Okay. So there you go. This is when they am nowhere near that and Lawson's a poll. Lawson wins. So I look forward to seeing both of that. So, um, okay. Well, that covers that. Not what I was expecting. You know, the whole of the summer break, completely silent.

And then the minute we enter racing. What do you mean? Alex Halbin announced that he was resigning with Williams. Sorry. So sorry. That was shocking. And Formula One have just done a huge tweet, actually, 12 minutes ago. Oh, no.

It's a teaser for a teaser for a teaser. Happy birthday, Nico Holcombberg. Oh, huge. Happy birthday, Nicole. This silly season is just crazy. Popping off. It really is. But anyway, more seriously, very fascinated to see just how this weekend unfolds with all

of these changes. And whenever this goes out, maybe we'll see you in Amsterdam. If not, we'll see you for the live streams, of course, which is back as always. We will be back for this weekend in our normal setup. So come and join us for the watch longs as always. As much as we said, we're in Amsterdam. We are coming back. So we will love to see you there.

and Formula One has returned back to all the silliness. Get well soon. Crazyness. And we will see you very soon. Tommy, final thoughts? Because I've just done a thing. You can just say it. Oh, that's waving.

You can wave and say it. What's your final thing? Bring on the live shows. Looking forward to returning to Amsterdam and seeing you lovely people. Sold out banger. Can't wait to see you there. Great venue. Always good vibes.

This is when this video goes out after we've done it. And then it doesn't really make any sense. Because of course, we wait. for things to be locked in. But I will say that you're looking very swell. I mean, you've been working out over the summer. I was hoping I'd get the red bull seat. I haven't forgotten to turn on my purple lights.

They both have broken. And my new ones have not been set up yet because I didn't think I'd have to do a podcast. So my arm's hurting now. Oh, that's Frank saying goodbye as well. That's goodness says. No, no. Right. Bye.

No, say it. Say it. What is it? What was it? I was going to say that I'm going to get a wrist injury by waving and that just sets you up for the most easy super yacht joke ever. I've seen you in a few hours. Hell of you. Goodbye.

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