After a shock demotion from Red Bull’s senior ranks and initial struggles back at Racing Bulls, Liam Lawson has turned his Formula One season around.
The Kiwi has entered the northern hemisphere summer break as one of the form drivers, with three points finishes in his last four grands prix.
And at a time when teams are beginning to finalise their lineups, Lawson is doing everything right, with Red Bull understood to be close to confirming his place in 2026.
In part two of looking at Lawson’s first full campaign so far, Alex Powell breaks down his upturn in results.
The wait continues
With a 14th-place finish and another penalty in Saudi Arabia, Lawson’s post-race reaction said it all.
“I just want some points.”
However, the race was an improvement for Lawson. For the first time in 2025, he had outqualified a teammate, starting 12th to Isack Hadjar’s 14th. Pit strategy, though, meant the Frenchman got the better of Lawson and took a point for 10th place.
After a two-week break, Lawson headed to Miami, where he would have another chance to get his season back on track.
But on a track he’d never raced on, Lawson – not for the first time this season – would be hampered by the sprint weekend format, which cuts the number of practice sessions from three to one.
That showed in sprint qualifying. Despite bettering Yuki Tsunoda, who had replaced him at Red Bull for the rest of 2025, Lawson could only start 14th.
Like had been on show in Saudi Arabia, Lawson’s ability to race hadn’t deserted him.
As rain fell, shortening the sprint race by one lap, Lawson made the most of the wet conditions – and made up five places at the first corner alone with opportunistic precision, and even got around his teammate with little fuss.
On lap 13 of 18, and as the track continued to dry, Lawson’s switch from intermediate tyres to slicks came at the perfect time.
Elsewhere, a pit lane collision between Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli brought chaos in slippery conditions, as the former was handed a 10-second penalty, before Williams’ Carlos Sainz wiped out at turn 14.
Once all the stops had been taken, though, Lawson was ninth – one place outside the points. This was it, as good a chance as any that the Kiwi could have asked for to finally tick off his first points finish of 2025, provided he could get around Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.
And on lap 15, Lawson got his man. As the two cars came wheel to wheel at turn 11, Lawson was forced wide, which in turn put him ahead at turn 12, causing Alonso to hit the wall, and ended the two-time world champion’s hunt for points.
As McLaren’s Lando Norris took the chequered flag, Lawson had done enough to cross the line eighth – which became seventh once Verstappen’s penalty was applied. After 180 days, Lawson was back in the points.
The stewards, though, saw things differently. Because Alonso was the lead car at turn 11, the officials ruled that Lawson was obligated to leave room at turn 12.
Normal convention would dictate the corner before should have no bearing on the one where the incident took place. But like had happened in Jeddah, Lawson was still hit nonetheless.
By the time his five-second time penalty was applied, Lawson had fallen from seventh to 13th and the wait for points would continue.
That was only the start of his Miami misfortune. Despite showing his ability to be quick on the Miami streets, a battery issue meant Lawson qualified 15th for the Grand Prix and Hadjar settled for 11th.
On top of that, the Alonso incident took Lawson to six penalty points on his super licence, halfway to earning a one-race ban.
To cap a weekend to forget, a first-lap incident with Alpine’s Jack Doohan – in what proved to be his last race – left Lawson with damage to his car’s floor.
After falling further down the grid, the Kiwi was put out of his misery on lap 38 as Racing Bulls retired their No 30 car and ended Lawson’s weekend.
Regardless, as Racing Bulls had backed, Miami showed that Lawson wasn’t finished as a racer.
He would have to wait, however, as the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix two weeks later delivered another frustrating race.
Even with Racing Bulls’ major upgrades to the floor and body of the VCARB02, the old-fashioned Imola circuit brought its own challenges.
The tight nature of Imola, in combination with the sheer size of 2025’s cars, made overtaking on track next to impossible, with passes instead determined by pit strategy – if at all.
As a result, qualifying became the be-all and end-all for Lawson’s hopes of a points finish and ending his wait to add something to Racing Bulls’ season.
But as had been the case more than once this season, problems outside Lawson’s control would cost him when it counted.
Not once, but twice, other drivers’ mistakes meant red flags. The first, triggered by Tsunoda, left Lawson having to abort a timed lap, and then again when Franco Colapinto – Doohan’s replacement at Alpine – did the same at the end of the session.
After not being able to set a final push lap, Lawson could only manage the 16th-best time. And even if it was upgraded to 15th when Colapinto’s repairs were taken into account, it might as well have been last.
In an uneventful 63 laps, Lawson made just a single overtake when he undercut Gabriel Bortoleto’s Sauber, and ultimately crossed the line 14th, as Verstappen’s first-lap pass on Oscar Piastri gave Red Bull another race victory.
“I try not to believe in luck, but it’s been pretty difficult recently,” Lawson said after the race. “I’ll keep working hard and hope that it turns around.”
For its part, Imola was condemned to the scrap heap and scratched from 2026’s calendar.
Masterclass in Monte Carlo
Imola was next to impossible for cars to overtake one another and Monaco a week later gave the 20 drivers no respite.
For as long as Formula One has been raced on the streets of Monte Carlo, opportunities to pass have been non-existent at best.
In response, the FIA, which governs motorsport, decreed that two mandatory pit stops be taken during the Monaco Grand Prix, as a means of trying to add some spice to a race that has become too formulaic under the current regulations.
As was the case in Imola, qualifying became the key. With junior experience in Monaco, Lawson gave the truest indication that he was made for Formula One.
In the afternoon session of Friday practice, Lawson didn’t just beat Hadjar, he was the fastest of the four Red Bull-backed cars and set the fifth-best time of free practice two (FP2) for his efforts.
While there is never a true indication as to how practice will translate into qualifying, FP2 is as close as you could ask for, given the two sessions occur at the same time of day, replicating the on-track conditions.
And even though that fifth in practice didn’t completely replicate itself 24 hours later, Lawson took his chance.
In his best qualifying result of the season, Lawson was able to set the ninth-fastest time and earn a first start inside the top 10 since Brazil 2024. Of the three points finishes Lawson had to his name in Formula One, two had come from starting inside the top 10.
While Lawson struggled at Red Bull in Melbourne and China, circuits he’d never previously raced on, his knowledge of the Monte Carlo streets played into his hands, even if Racing Bulls lacked the pace of some of their competitors.
Racing Bulls had both drivers in the top 10 but Mercedes could only manage 14th and 15th in what’s supposed to be a superior car.
And given Monaco’s inability to overtake, surely this was where Lawson’s drought would end?
As the lights went out, and Bortoleto hit the wall at turn eight on the opening lap, the first cars headed for the pits behind a virtual safety car. It was clear, the two pit-stop rule was going to have a major impact on strategy in the 78-lap affair.
Racing Bulls, though, had their own ideas. With Lawson ninth and Hadjar fifth, Red Bull’s sister side led the way and implemented a strategy that made a mockery of the FIA’s best intentions.
As the second car, Lawson deliberately drove as slow as he could, knowing he wasn’t going to be overtaken, as a way to create enough of a gap for Hadjar to pit twice by the 28th lap, and give his teammate a free run to the finish line, and a career-best result, even if he lost a place to Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.
What, though, of Lawson? While driving slowly had set the platform for Hadjar to shine, it did put the Kiwi at serious risk of being stuck in a train of drivers once he’d stopped twice, with no way of overtaking them.
However, as is so often the case in Formula One, more than one team made use of a successful strategy.
As Williams and Mercedes ordered their drivers, behind Lawson, to drive slow and create gaps for their teammates to pit twice, the Kiwi was able to stop twice by lap 43 and cruise home.
What’s more, once Alonso was forced to retire with a power unit failure, Lawson moved up one place to eighth and claimed not only his best finish of the year but the best of his career.
After all the struggles 2025 had brought, Lawson finally had the result to prove he belonged. The faith that Racing Bulls had placed in him was being paid back and they climbed to seventh in the constructors’ championship as a result.
It also set a clear example for Lawson: qualify well and the results will follow. On paper, it seems obvious. But so close are the midfield teams in 2025 any possible advantage a team can take over its competitors is one to accept with open arms.
Being fast over one lap had been a strength of Lawson’s through his junior career and into Japan’s Super Formula championship. Doing it in Formula One, though, was proving to be his biggest challenge.
Once he could fix that, as seen in Monaco, it was clear points were there for the taking.
Darkest before the dawn
Despite the success in Monaco, results didn’t come straight away for a revitalised Lawson.
After qualifying 13th for the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, an ill-timed safety car ruined any chance of more points.
Almost immediately after Lawson made his second and final stop, Antonelli left the track at turn 10 and the ensuing safety car gave Alonso, who was behind the Kiwi, the chance to fit fresh tyres.
That advantage benefited the veteran, who got around Lawson on the final lap and scored his first point of the season in his home race.
Again, Barcelona was nothing but a missed opportunity for Lawson. He’d been in the top 10 across all three practice sessions but couldn’t make it count in qualifying.
In contrast, Hadjar qualified ninth and moved up to seventh in the Grand Prix, earning another six points for his troubles and now cemented as Racing Bulls’ lead driver.
On top of that, Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad was making all the right noises in Formula Two and sat third in the championship after turning pole position in Spain into his second win.
Behind the scenes, though, Red Bull were far from secure. Despite the switch with Lawson, Tsunoda had finished closer to the back of the grid than the front in his last two races.
Even worse, defending world champion Verstappen was now losing ground on the two McLaren cars, driven by Piastri and Norris. So frustrated was Verstappen, he netted a 10-second penalty in Spain for appearing to deliberately veer into Mercedes’ George Russell.
That collision saw the Dutchman move to 11 penalty points and risk suspension if he accrued one more over the next two race weekends.
And as further evidence of Red Bull’s lack of foresight, Lawson loomed as his replacement if that eventuated, even after his struggles in the RB21 earlier in the year.
Canada, then, became all the more important for Lawson. Once again, though, form in qualifying proved his undoing.
Lawson recorded top-10 practice finishes in both of Friday’s sessions but was unable to convert that into pace over a single lap.
As another sign of how close the 2025 field is, Lawson was 0.140s away from advancing to the second stage of qualifying. A late red flag left Lawson in the Racing Bulls’ garage for too long, leaving him unable to properly warm his tyres before his final push lap, and he set the 19th-fastest time.
That should have meant an 18th-place start in the Grand Prix itself as Tsunoda was slapped with a 10-second penalty for Piastri under a red flag. However, as an attempt to boost Lawson’s chances, Racing Bulls swapped out his entire power unit and forced a start from the pit lane.
Ironically, the new power unit proved to be Lawson’s undoing. On a scalding hot track, where temperatures exceeded 40C, drivers couldn’t risk pushing too hard for the damage it would cause their tyres.
Lawson climbed as high as 14th before Racing Bulls retired his car to avert pushing too hard on his new engine.
“Sorry, mate,” Lawson’s race engineer Ernesto Desiderio was heard saying over his radio.
“It’s a hard day and this is the cherry on top, but we had to take care of this [power unit].
“We had a sudden loss of pressure at one point, nothing big, but we couldn’t keep running.”
The only solace for Lawson was Hadjar also struggled with a 16th-placed finish. But if he was to catch Red Bull’s eye for if and when they made their 2026 lineup decisions, Lawson needed things to start going his way.
New heights
By no means was Lawson running out of time to impress Red Bull. But he was seriously behind in his battle with Hadjar.
The French rookie had outscored him 21 points to two in a Racing Bulls car that could consistently score points.
Monaco had proven Lawson had the ability to fight where he needed to, provided he could nail his qualifying laps. As one of the shortest laps on the calendar, Austria’s Red Bull Ring was a chance for any of the midfield cars to do something special.
And with winning experience in Austria from his days racing in the German DTM series, Lawson was quietly primed to make his chance count.
Clocking the respective 15th and 12th fastest times in FP1 and FP2 wasn’t much to write home about, but it did give Lawson a vital 65 laps worth of learning on Friday before taking it into Saturday’s qualifying.
Like it had been in Monaco, Lawson’s previous experience at the Red Bull Ring was worth its weight in gold.
From the moment the Kiwi set the third-fastest lap in the first session of qualifying, 1m 5.017s, it was clear that Austria had the potential to be special.
That success didn’t carry across both Racing Bulls cars and when Hadjar couldn’t escape Q2, Lawson would start in front of his teammate for only the second time in 2025.
But there was still more to come. As Lawson crossed the line for a lap of 1m 4.926s, the Kiwi shot to sixth place, eyeing his best start of the year.
When Alpine’s Pierre Gasly left the track to trigger a yellow flag in the final minutes, Verstappen was forced to abort his final lap and leave Lawson as not just the best Racing Bulls car but the best Red Bull-backed driver altogether.
It might have been in mitigating circumstances but Lawson’s result spoke for itself. For the third time in his Formula One career he’d start in front of Red Bull’s ace.
On both of those previous occasions – Singapore 2023 and Brazil 2024 – Verstappen managed to overtake his Red Bull stablemate, but there’d be no repeat in 2025.
In a race-altering first-lap incident, the world champion’s day, and perhaps his season was ended by Antonelli at turn three, as the Mercedes attempted to move up from ninth and left both drivers with terminal damage.
One other driver was caught up in the tangle, Lawson, who in turn fell to ninth and was left to fight to salvage the chance for points. But fight is exactly what he did, even if it meant another battle with Alonso.
For 66 laps, the Kiwi went toe to toe with a driver 21 years his senior, just as they’d done in Austin and Miami – and kept him in his mirrors.
That wouldn’t be the end of it. The clash with Antonelli meant Lawson lost track position and while he sat sixth, there was plenty of work to do. As well as managing Alonso behind him, he’d have to take care of a set of hard tyres – more than 30 laps old.
Given Lawson and Alonso had each committed to a one-stop strategy – the only two drivers on the grid to do so – it was going to take something special to catch the Kiwi.
Despite having two world titles, 32 wins and 97 podium finishes, there was nothing the Aston Martin driver could do.
Lawson crossed the line sixth and for the second time in four races achieved his career-best. Making the result all the sweeter, Hadjar could only manage 12th, with Tsunoda last on track in 16th.
Even though Lawson’s sixth was, on paper, Racing Bulls’ equal best result of the season, the Kiwi’s effort far outshone his teammate’s.
Hadjar’s sixth place in Monaco came through the sacrifice of Lawson, as he deliberately gave away any – no matter how slim – chance of overtaking on the Monte Carlo streets.
Lawson’s sixth was achieved on his own, with one of the sport’s all-time greats hot on his heels. What’s more, those eight points won moved Lawson up to 15th in the driver’s championship, ahead of Tsunoda, who hadn’t scored since Imola.
Across the whole weekend, Lawson had bested Hadjar in all but one practice session. When combined with Verstappen’s DNF, Lawson was Red Bull’s best driver across both teams – at the organisation’s Austrian base.
At a time when everything was falling apart for Red Bull, Lawson’s result was something for the organisation to smile about.
Red Bull rebellion
On track, Lawson’s DNF at Silverstone – after being taken out by Haas’ Esteban Ocon, who himself was forced into the Kiwi by Tsunoda – effectively wrote off the entirety of a wet British Grand Prix.
Lawson had again been quick in practice, only for a final lap slip on cold tyres to condemn him to miss advancing from Q1 by 0.112s.
Off the track, Red Bull’s worst nightmare was playing out. From the moment the paddock arrived in England, all eyes were on Verstappen, who had reportedly been in discussions with Mercedes over a switch.
Max’s father Jos Verstappen and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff are firm friends, and a move for the world champion had long been suspected, long before he ascended to the heights of four successive titles, even if a fifth was starting to look beyond reach.
No one from either side, including current Mercedes driver George Russell, whose own seat was at risk, denied a thing.
Red Bull, who had already lost key names such as designer Adrian Newey to Aston Martin, strategist Will Courtenay to McLaren and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley to Audi among others, had to act.
Three days after a British Grand Prix where Verstappen finished fifth behind a McLaren one-two, Red Bull’s top brass made a call few saw coming. Christian Horner, the only team principal they had ever had, was sacked.
Red Bull’s messaging was clear: this was about results. The team that had won 22 out of 23 races in 2023 had fallen to fourth in the constructors’ championship. An abysmally designed car had accounted for Lawson, Sergio Perez and was doing the same to Tsunoda.
Even Verstappen, easily among the greatest to get behind the wheel of a Formula One car, was struggling, with a single podium in his past five races.
Key personnel had left, not been replaced, and performance had dissipated.
Reading between the lines, this wasn’t about Horner, it was about the Verstappens. The threat of losing Max to Mercedes was real.
Since Max’s promotion from what was then-Toro Rosso in 2016, Horner and Jos are understood to have been at odds.
As team principal, it’s understood Horner had taken exception to a then-18-year-old stepping into his team. In turn, Red Bull’s senior adviser Dr Helmut Marko went to company founder Diertrich Mateschitz, who gave the all-clear for Verstappen’s promotion.
With “supportive father” being an understatement, Jos never forgave Horner for not believing in his son.
Regardless, Red Bull needed a leader and turned to Racing Bulls team boss Laurent Mekies to fill the void Horner had left. Known for his man management as much as his racing expertise, Mekies’ appointment was a clear attempt to keep the Verstappens at the table.
For the rest of the Red Bull stable, Mekies’ promotion was huge. Lawson, Hadjar and Tsunoda had all worked under the Frenchman at AlphaTauri and Racing Bulls, and with a decision as to who would partner Verstappen was to come for 2026, it was now going to be made by someone who intimately understood the variables.
In the shorter term, Red Bull’s need for stability played into the Kiwi’s hands. As Formula One prepares for a new era of regulations, the most drastic changes in years, Lawson’s value to Red Bull had become clear.
Herald sources have indicated that, while not officially confirmed, Lawson will likely remain on the grid with Racing Bulls in a leadership role, tasked with guiding Red Bull’s sister outfit into the future.
Whether Red Bull have directly communicated these plans with Lawson is unclear, however, as the season returned after a two-week interval, something had clearly changed.
The climb
As another sprint race weekend, Belgium gave the grid two chances to show their worth over the weekend, even if it meant less time in practice.
For Lawson, arriving at Spa-Francorchamps marked a return to a track where he had enjoyed junior success. Victory and third in Formula Two in 2022 and another podium in 2020 showed Lawson knew how to drive in Belgium.
While 10th in a grand prix would have been a suitable result, doing so in a sprint returned no points, as Lawson made up one place when Gasly failed to reach the start line.
However, those 15 sprint laps proved invaluable as Lawson improved in the weekend’s second qualifying session.
From missing out on Q3 by 0.041s in the sprint, Lawson reached the last stage of qualifying for the grand prix with 0.228s to spare, on his way to setting the ninth-fastest time.
In the first weekend after Horner, all four Red Bull-backed cars started inside the top 10, even if Lawson was 0.018s back from Hadjar.
As has become customary since the first Belgian Grand Prix in 1925, rain played its part in levelling the playing field at Spa and delayed the 2025 iteration by more than an hour.
With a rolling start behind the safety car, it wasn’t until lap five that racing truly got under way.
Down in ninth, Lawson needed to act quickly if he was to salvage anything from the race. Because Hadjar was eighth, there was no way Racing Bulls could pit both drivers on the same lap, especially with the track drying rapidly.
If Hadjar stayed in front, Lawson would have to play second fiddle, wait an extra lap to change to slick tyres and lose any hope of beating his teammate. With no drag reduction system (DRS) because of the wet, Lawson would have to create his own opportunity to pass.
For once, fortune favoured the Kiwi as Hadjar complained of a power unit issue and the rookie was losing pace. As the first cars headed for the pits on lap 12, Lawson made the most of the famous Kemmel Straight and got around his teammate with little fuss.
The timing couldn’t have been better. Lawson was now Racing Bulls’ lead car. A flawless strategy meant the Kiwi pitted for mediums and pulled off a one-stop strategy to clinch his second eighth-place of the season.
Even the challenge of both Sauber cars yielded nothing, as Lawson defended first from Nico Hulkenberg, who had broken his duck for a maiden Formula One podium at Silverstone, before the team ordered him to switch with Bortoleto.
Further highlighting Lawson’s excellent result, Hadjar only dropped further down the field and continued to lament his power unit failure. However, unlike with Lawson in Canada, Hadjar was left on track and finished the race in last place.
Coupled with his own display at Silverstone, where he was forced out of the race after crashing into Antonelli in the wet, Hadjar’s season had hit a slump. He hadn’t scored since Barcelona and Lawson was now eating into his championship lead.
A corner had been turned. Lawson’s formula, qualify well and results will follow, worked.
And with one race to go before the summer break, Lawson had a chance to seize the momentum to help Racing Bulls become the midfield leaders Red Bull needed them to be.
Hungary gave Lawson an opportunity to capitalise on his form and remind Red Bull why they backed him for the hardest job in motorsport.
Practice at the Hungaroring hardly went to plan, with two placings outside the top 10 on Friday, but it gave more time to learn and more knowledge to bank for Saturday.
With results already going his way, Lawson capitalised further against his teammate and outqualified Hadjar for the second time, albeit by 0.094s.
Hadjar wouldn’t be the only driver in Lawson’s sights. By the end of the first lap, Lawson had made up one place and moved to eighth, after overtaking none other than his world champion former teammate off the starting line.
And even if Verstappen had made that place back by the end of lap two, Lawson was there to race.
A one-stop strategy did its job as he chased Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin for eighth place. His only stop on lap 41 had Lawson 12th but he made up places as other cars made their second trips to the pits.
One of those was none other than Verstappen, who had 20 laps and fresher tyres to try to reel in his old teammate. Sitting eighth and ninth at the time, there was little for either driver to gain in the wider context of the championship.
But for Lawson, this was the chance to show he was the real deal. In Brazil last year, as Verstappen moved from 17th to take victory, team orders meant Lawson made way for Red Bull’s ace. There was no repeat in 2025.
For 20 laps, Verstappen couldn’t get close enough to Lawson to complete an overtake, even after showing his desperation earlier in the race with a dive bomb on the Ferrari of Hamilton.
And as 20 laps became 10, as 10 became five, and as five became one, Lawson brought his car home in one piece, with Verstappen one place back.
As had happened in Austria, Lawson was Red Bull’s best car. This time, though, there were no mitigating circumstances. Verstappen hadn’t been forced out on the first lap. He was stuck behind a driver who’d been deemed unable to be his partner.
For the second race in a row, Lawson had finished eighth and netted four more points. But it wasn’t how many, it was how. Lawson had qualified well at Belgium and Hungary and completed two grands prix with little fuss.
In a sport where recency bias takes centre stage, Lawson couldn’t have headed into the summer break in a better position.
What now for Red Bull?
Before Hungary, Verstappen confirmed he would stay at Red Bull for 2026 at least, despite the fact his contract runs to 2028. However, there are still major problems for the team to solve.
Tsunoda’s results have not panned out the way he would have hoped after moving up for his home race. He has four points finishes – three grands prix and one sprint – to show for his season’s work.
The Japanese driver’s ties to Honda will certainly mean his exit when the engine supplier links with Aston Martin in 2026, even if he’s left sidelined as a result.
For the second year in a row, it appears the race to find Verstappen’s next teammate will be decided over the back half of 2025.
Eyeing another promotion to Red Bull’s senior ranks, Lawson has closed the gap to Hadjar to two points.
Despite an incredible start to the year, Hadjar has not scored a point in a grand prix for five races, even if he managed one during the Belgium sprint race.
If and when the time comes for promotion, Hadjar would likely have 24 races under his belt and Lawson 35.
Unless, of course, Red Bull decide to look elsewhere. The team has reportedly explored bringing Williams’ Alex Albon back as a means of securing an experienced driver.
That would allow Lawson and Hadjar more time to develop in the junior side, especially since Lindblad’s time in Formula Two hasn’t hit the heights expected yet.
Regardless, even with 10 races left in 2025, expect plenty more twists and turns if Lawson is to get back to where he wants to for next year and beyond.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.