Liam Lawson was taken out on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix
Racing Bulls suffered a double ‘did not finish’ as Isack Hadjar also crashed out
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen’s future with Red Bull’s senior side is in doubt
Liam Lawson’s British Grand Prix might have lasted fewer than five corners. However, there was plenty to ascertain from what we saw at Silverstone.
The Kiwi was taken out by Esteban Ocon, after a chain reaction caused by Yuki Tsunoda. The result comes just a week after Lawsonregistered a new career-best, with sixth in Austria.
However, in the context of this Formula One season, now at its halfway point, there is still plenty to talk about from what we’ve seen over the past few days.
Since his return to Racing Bulls, Lawson has taken on a leadership role in terms of developing the car, and guiding teammate Isack Hadjar, as the team fights to be the best of the rest outside the top four.
And with chaos in Red Bull’s senior ranks, you’d be safe in betting its next driver is currently at Racing Bulls.
Liam Lawson preparing to go into action at Silverstone. Photo / Red Bull
Regardless of which of the two Racing Bulls drivers gets promoted, the other will almost certainly retain his seat, to avoid the risk of having two rookie drivers in one team, in a car expected to fight for points.
With two races to go before the summer break, Red Bull will be far from finalising their driver line-ups for next season, as is the case with the 11 teams to feature on the 2026 grid.
And even with performance-related clauses in his contract – the same for every Red Bull driver – to suggest Lawson is suddenly driving for his future every race is both naive and premature.
Vaarwel Verstappen?
It feels as though every race weekend, a Red Bull seat is closer to coming up for grabs. However, at Silverstone, it wasn’t the seat anyone would have predicted.
During the build-up to the British Grand Prix last week, Sky Italy reported Max Verstappen’s management had held talks with Mercedes over a potential switch. And once all parties arrived at Silverstone, not once was it denied. Red Bull, Mercedes, and even Verstappen himself all had the opportunity to set the record straight, but didn’t.
If – and it’s a huge if – Verstappen goes, Red Bull as an organisation will face the biggest rethink in its 20-year history. The team has gone past the point of parody in how it set itself up to accommodate Verstappen, even leaving a trail of teammates unable to be on par.
Liam Lawson could benefit from a Max Verstappen move. Photo / Red Bull
But the sport always moves on. Red Bull did the same when Sebastian Vettel left for Ferrari, and can do the same in 2026, should it eventuate.
Who, though, could replace him? When the team axed Lawson after China this year, team principal and CEO Christian Horner made it clear that he still saw a future for Lawson in the organisation.
Since then, he’s slowly but surely started to rebuild his career, and results in Austria and Monaco prove there’s still a proper driver for Red Bull to work with.
Now it’s up to Lawson to prove he’s still Red Bull’s man.
Hadjar’s woes continue
In Lawson’s favour, is the fact that his main competition has started to struggle.
After a brilliant start to his rookie season, that Melbourne wipeout aside, Hadjar has fallen back down to Earth of late.
From being comprehensively beaten in Austria, Hadjar looked to have started to bounce back by bettering Lawson in all three practice sessions, and outqualifying him at Silverstone.
And when the Kiwi was taken out on lap one, everything was in Hadjar’s favour to reclaim Racing Bulls’ bragging rights.
Then, disaster struck.
With heavy rain falling, Hadjar couldn’t save himself from running into the back of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli at turn nine, in an incident that ended both drivers’ race.
While yes, Lawson also failed to finish, he wasn’t at fault for his exit. Hadjar was at fault for his.
Isack Hadjar had another troubled race. Photo / Red Bull
Throughout his junior categories, Hadjar was known for being temperamental. We’ve yet to really see that in Formula One, but at 20 years old, it’s understandable.
The issue at play now, though, is whether or not it counts against Hadjar if Red Bull come knocking. He’s already said this season he wouldn’t feel ready, and in his teammate Lawson he can see the dangers of moving up too early.
Still, he’s 12 races into a career – one more than Lawson had when he was promoted – and will continue to grow.
Tsunoda struggles, part six
Depending on what happens with Verstappen, it might not just be one Red Bull seat going spare, either.
The other half of the equation in Lawson’s demotion, Yuki Tsunoda is now feeling the heat of what it means to be Verstappen’s teammate.
For the second week in a row, Tsunoda both finished last on track, and was handed a 10-second penalty, this time for tangling with Haas’ Ollie Bearman.
That’s not to mention the fact that he was also largely responsible for Esteban Ocon being forced wide and taking Lawson out in the process.
It’s no secret, Tsunoda’s future is all but finalised when engine supplier Honda, one of his primary backers, departs Red Bull for Aston Martin next year.
Yuki Tsunoda was the last of the finishers at Silverstone. Photo / Red Bull
What’s more, Red Bull also gave Tsunoda’s car to junior driver Arvid Lindblad for the first practice of the weekend, at his home grand prix.
Last year, Red Bull did the same to Daniel Ricciardo in Japan for junior driver Ayumu Iwasa. In that instance, Ricciardo made way for Lawson before the end of the season.
And while it’s mandatory that teams give two practice sessions per season to a junior to complete, the timing of this one doesn’t bode well for a driver already struggling.
Nice guys finish third
While McLaren rightly took a one-two finish at Silverstone, the real winner was Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg.
The 37-year-old German had gone 238 races without standing on the podium, a record in Formula One.
But after starting 19th, Hulkenberg survived the chaos to finally get that monkey off his back, as arguably the standout result of the season so far.
Hulkenberg is renowned as one of the nicest drivers on the grid, evidenced by seeing the celebrations on his behalf from his rivals.
One for the good guys, indeed.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.
