Liam Lawson casts fresh doubt over Red Bull future with ‘not so clear’ admission
Liam Lawson deep in thought in the Racing Bulls garage at Zandvoort
Liam Lawson has cast doubt over his long-term F1 future, admitting that it is now “not so clear” that his ambition of being crowned world champion will be realised at Red Bull.
Lawson was promoted to Red Bull as Max Verstappen’s new teammate for the F1 2025 season last winter after Sergio Perez vacated his seat.
Liam Lawson: Long-term F1 future ‘not as clear as I thought it was’
The New Zealander’s rapid rise came after just 11 appearances, spread across the 2023 and 2024 campaigns, for the Racing Bulls sister team.
Lawson’s stint at Red Bull proved a disaster with the youngster qualifying 18th for his debut in Australia before crashing out of a rain-affected race.
The 23-year-old’s situation worsened at the following race in China, where he qualified 20th and last for both the sprint and main races.
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Red Bull announced days after the Shanghai round that Lawson had been demoted back to Racing Bulls, with Yuki Tsunoda becoming Verstappen’s third different team-mate in the space of four races in Japan.
Lawson’s team-mate Isack Hadjar claimed third place at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, securing Racing Bulls’ first podium finish since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when the team was competing under the AlphaTauri banner.
With Tsunoda scoring just seven points since replacing Lawson, it is increasingly likely that Hadjar will step into the main Red Bull team for F1 2026.
Asked if he dreams of returning to Red Bull himself, and what he would do differently if presented with that opportunity, Lawson hinted that his future potentially lies elsewhere if he is to ever realise his dream of winning the title.
He told Sky F1: “I think it’s tough.
“As much as I wanted to be a Red Bull Racing driver – that’s what I worked towards from becoming a Red Bull junior – the dream I’ve had since I was five years old has been world champion, has been winning in Formula 1 and reaching the top of the sport.
“And I think that’s more or less where my dream sits, where my goal is – trying to become the best. That’s what we’re all working towards.
“And I think where I do that is not so clear as much as I thought it was.
“So I think doing it over again, there’s probably things, yes, that maybe you can do differently.
“You always learn things afterwards, you always look back and, in hindsight, there’s always things you can do better.”
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Asked if he has sympathy for Tsunoda, Lawson argued that the Japanese driver has had more time to adjust to life at Red Bull than he was afforded.
He added: “It’s tricky.
“Because when I looked back at how it was for me, I was here [at Red Bull for] two races, on two tracks I’d never been to.
“I think I look back and think that maybe I was naive to think that I would be given the time to adapt to it, because I think that was really the approach going in.
“It’s really tough. I definitely feel sympathy for a driver that’s struggling in that position, because it’s a very, very tough sport and it’s never nice to see somebody struggling in an environment.
“But I think it’s hard for me to relate because I didn’t even get to a track that I’d driven before.”
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