Kiwi F1 driver Liam Lawson is feeling "more relieved than anything" after it was revealed he would be back in the cockpit next year.
On Wednesday, Lawson's team Racing Bulls announced it would be keeping the 23-year-old for the 2026 season.
He will race alongside Arvid Lindblad, who has been promoted from Formula 2, while Isack Hadjar will move to the Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen after a solid rookie season. It leaves current Red Bull driver and Lawson's former teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, without a seat in 2026.
Asked by media how he felt about Wednesday's announcement, Lawson said: "It's probably more relief than anything right now.
"It's also nice going into this weekend knowing I can't really remember the last time I had that.
"I'll try and enjoy the weekend a little bit, but I think it's very positive and exciting to go into next year and spend the off-season with a proper plan."
Lawson said he learned of the decision from Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane just after the last race in Qatar, where he finished ninth, scoring two points.
It's been a long season for Lawson, who sits in 14th on 38 points heading into the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
Red Bull demoted him after just two races at the start of the season. Since falling back into the Racing Bulls fold, Lawson has finished in the points seven times with a best result of fifth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Asked if he thought the demotion ended up being a good thing, Lawson said: "I definitely think about that phrase a lot, and I always try to tell myself that sometimes, in normally bad moments.
"I think at the start of the year, obviously, I was having a lot of those thoughts with what was going on, but at the same time, it's hard to say that now because I think to be in this sport, we all believe in ourselves. You couldn't be here if you thought that somebody was better than you.
"I would have liked to have thought that with the right amount of time, I would have got my head around it, honestly. I don't even remember them [two races with Red Bull], they were so short.
"I do think there are a lot of things that happened this year that have made me a lot stronger and I've learnt a lot from."
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