Liam Lawson: Inside Red Bull’s shocking decision to drop driver after two races - The Athletic

Red Bull’s decision to drop Liam Lawson after just two races will go down as one of the harshest calls the team has made in its 20-year Formula One history.

Even for a team with a reputation for making sudden midseason driver swaps, notably in 2016 to promote Max Verstappen to its senior team just four races into the season, to move this early in the year feels abrupt.

But by the time Red Bull’s senior management and shareholders met in Dubai on Monday, one day after the Chinese Grand Prix, there was total agreement: Lawson could not continue in the seat.

A decision on Lawson’s future would always be a natural topic of discussion for the meeting yet, by this point, it was a formality. Chalerm Yoovidhya, the Thai billionaire who owns 51 percent of Red Bull GmbH, is known for being more reserved and hands-off with his involvement in F1 matters. However, according to sources with knowledge of discussions who, like all referenced in this piece, wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships, even he had privately indicated concern over Lawson’s performance. All the figures involved in the Dubai meeting were aligned that a change was required.

This revolved around three key factors: to improve the level of performance in the second Red Bull car as soon as possible; to help improve the car itself through feedback and development; and, crucially, to give Lawson the support he needed. In the news release confirming Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda’s swap on Thursday, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted it had been “difficult to see Liam struggle.”

The feeling was that being back in the Racing Bulls environment with a car that was easier to drive would help Lawson rebuild his confidence. And that Tsunoda, who moves into Lawson’s vacated cockpit, could take a step in performance to lift Red Bull.

Lawson was promoted to Red Bull’s senior team as Sergio Pérez’s replacement on account of his potential after he ran just 11 F1 races spread across 2023 and 2024 with its junior squad, now known as Racing Bulls. The New Zealander, Red Bull believed, had a higher ceiling than the more experienced Tsunoda and the confidence to handle the pressure of being in F1’s toughest seat. Both Horner and team adviser Helmut Marko were confident Lawson was the best fit.

The reality was that it was too much, too soon for the 23-year-old. Lawson’s qualifying results of 18th, 20th and 20th across Australia, the China sprint and the China race, lapping on average 0.880 seconds slower than Verstappen, left him bereft of confidence and forced Red Bull into action.

According to multiple sources, concerns about Lawson’s level of performance emerged as early as preseason testing in Bahrain. Publicly, Red Bull conceded the test had not gone as planned with the RB21 car as it failed to complete a full race simulation. But when analyzing its data, it was already seeing a surprisingly large performance gap between him and Verstappen, one not fully reflected by the six-tenths of a second gap in the final testing classification.

That translated to the first competitive running of the year in Australia. Lawson lapped over a second slower than Verstappen in Q1 and was more than half a second adrift of advancing to Q2, losing out due to a scruffy final lap where he locked up at the final chicane. He then spent most of the race struggling down in 16th in the damp before crashing out when Red Bull opted to gamble on keeping him on dry tires as the rain arrived.

By the time Red Bull made it to the next race in China, Marko had already privately aired some uncertainty about Lawson’s suitability for the seat. Horner was more diplomatic, believing that one race was not enough of a sample to make a call on his future.

Things went from bad to worse in Shanghai, the nadir being Lawson’s qualifying performance on Saturday. He’d qualified last for the sprint race on Friday afternoon, six-tenths off advancing, before crossing the line 14th. Even with the knowledge of sprint qualifying and more time to jell with the car for the full grand prix qualifying session, Lawson again slumped to last place, again over half a second off making it through. Verstappen, by comparison, qualified P2 for the sprint and P4 for the main race.

By Saturday evening, the direction in which things were moving was clear. Lawson was incredibly hard on himself about his struggles, and the stress was reflected through his media pen interviews as he spoke about what was needed to turn things around.

“It’s just time,” Lawson told Sky Sports on Saturday in China. “Unfortunately, I don’t really have time, but it’s just one of those things.”

Lawson’s body language on Sunday indicated he knew it would likely be his last race as a Red Bull Racing driver, even if no one could say as much. At the end of a trying race where Red Bull made a series of setup changes in parc ferme to try and make the car more drivable, Lawson sounded at a loss when talking to his engineer.

“Sorry, mate,” Lawson said. “Honestly, I tried everything to help that.”

Through Horner’s media briefing with journalists on Sunday, he stayed coy about any upcoming decision but refused to confirm that Lawson would be in the car for Japan. He stressed the “duty” that Red Bull had to support Lawson and look after him, recognizing the young driver’s loss of self-confidence.

The meeting in Dubai was no crisis summit sparked by Red Bull’s tough start to the season, which has also seen Verstappen struggle to compete with the dominant McLarens due to the limitations of his car. The team often arranges these meetings involving Horner, Marko and representatives from both the Thai and Austrian shareholders following the flyaway races in Asia due to the convenience for all parties.

With a decision made on Monday, attention then turned to getting everything finalized. Talks progressed through Tuesday and Wednesday, aided by Red Bull’s driver contracts allowing for rotation between its two teams. Its engine partner, Honda, was naturally enthused by the idea of Tsunoda making his senior Red Bull team debut at the Japanese Grand Prix. Not only does Honda own the track, Suzuka, but it has also backed Tsunoda since he first stepped into single-seater cars in Formula Four. This will be the final Japanese Grand Prix where Honda has ties to Red Bull ahead of its switch to Aston Martin for 2026.

After returning to Europe from China, Tsunoda then went to the UK on Tuesday to visit Red Bull’s Milton Keynes base to prepare himself in the simulator, getting to grips with a virtual version of the RB21 car before jumping into the cockpit of the real thing next week. He also underwent other necessities, such as completing a seat fitting for the Red Bull car.

With the announcement made on Thursday, everyone’s focus can now switch to the upcoming tripleheader that starts next week in Japan. Before going to Suzuka, Red Bull is holding a long-planned show run in Tokyo that is set to mark Tsunoda’s first public appearance since the deal was announced. He is also set to garner plenty of attention through media day next Thursday at Suzuka, where he will be scheduled to feature in the FIA news conference as the only home driver.

And next Friday, Tsunoda will finally realize the dream he’s held since first joining the Red Bull junior program as an 18-year-old in 2018: He’ll be taking part in a grand prix weekend as a Red Bull Racing driver. The challenge of getting to grips with a car that proved beyond Lawson’s limits without any prior testing, particularly at a circuit as unforgiving as Suzuka, will be immense. The hope for Red Bull is that Tsunoda can use his experience to provide an uptick in performance and close the gap to Verstappen.

Red Bull will also look to give Lawson the support he needs upon his return to its sister team. Horner continued to speak positively about Lawson’s potential on Sunday in China, and there remains a belief in his abilities. With the more forgiving Racing Bulls car that Tsunoda has twice taken to Q3 this year, he’ll be able to rebuild and find his feet again. Verstappen told the Dutch media on Saturday in China that he thought Lawson would be quicker in a Racing Bulls car than the Red Bull. To see Lawson quickly return to the kind of form seen through the latter stages of last year, when he successfully auditioned for the Red Bull seat, would be no surprise.

The reasons may be clear, but Red Bull’s call to jettison Lawson after just two races and turn to the long-overlooked Tsunoda is no less shocking or harsh. The previous midseason drops, Daniil Kvyat (2016) and Pierre Gasly (2019), got more than two races to prove themselves, while Alex Albon had an entire season in the car in 2020 before Red Bull elected to make a change.

Even by Red Bull’s standards, ditching Lawson so soon is a bold, early move that acts as an unexpected twist in F1’s 2025 season narrative.

(Top photo: Sipa USA)

Luke Smith is a Senior Writer covering Formula 1 for The Athletic. Luke has spent 10 years reporting on Formula 1 for outlets including Autosport, The New York Times and NBC Sports, and is also a published author. He is a graduate of University College London. Follow Luke on Twitter @LukeSmithF1

Luke Smith@LukeSmithF1