‘The right decision will be made’ – Alan Permane gives update on driver decision process at Racing Bulls

Alan Permane believes that “the right decision will be made” when Racing Bulls finally confirms its 2027 driver line-up, with the team “trying to apply a little bit of science” before making any announcement.

Racing Bulls remains the only team yet to announce even one driver for next season, with both seats up for grabs and three drivers fighting for them.

Current driver Liam Lawson sits best of the rest in the drivers’ standings behind the top teams, with the Kiwi sitting in P9 having also made three appearances for Red Bull this season, scoring 14 times on a Sunday.

Arvid Lindblad sits P11 in the standings, albeit 45 points behind Lawson, but has impressed in a rookie Formula 1 season that has included 11 points finishes in Grands Prix.

Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov is the third driver in contention, the Bulgarian a race winner in F2 and second in the standings during his maiden season in the junior single-seater series.

Having made his F1 debut during Free Practice 1 in Mexico, Tsolov was directly compared against Lindblad during the session, finishing just one-tenth slower.

Speaking to the media on Friday ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix this weekend, Permane stated that the team were in no rush to confirm a line-up.

“Red Bull has had a very successful young driver programme,” said Permane, who announced he had signed a contract extension to stay with Racing Bulls until 2031.

“And I think, and I don’t want to be critical of it, but I think you guys are critical of it, [that] maybe sometimes drivers haven’t been able to have enough time to settle or maybe some snap decisions have been made.

“We’re trying to apply a little bit of science and that takes some time. 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. I realise it’s frustrating for our drivers, I realise it’s frustrating for everyone else, but we want to get it right and we will get it right, and I’m sure when we announce it in the coming weeks everyone will be happy.”

Ahead of this weekend’s race in Brazil, Lawson admitted “I don’t know what else they want me to do” having first made his F1 debut in 2023, but only completing a full campaign last season for the first time.

Permane admitted that the main area of focus would be the outright speed of a driver, but that attributes such as experience would also be an important factor in any decision.

“Main factors are, as always, pace and speed. That’s what comes into it. That’s the very first thing we look for but we’re not just a team that exists to just solely compete,” said Permane.

“We are here to bring young talent through so we have to keep an eye on that and that doesn’t necessarily mean that we just keep churning young talent through the car.

“We need to have maybe some experience as well to measure that talent against. So it’s not an easy decision and I understand, I get the frustration from everyone.

“I get the frustration from my drivers, however, they are both performing excellently and so I don’t know if that frustration is helping, maybe they’ll be even better when those decisions are made.”