The 23-year-old began the year as Max Verstappen’s teammate but was dropped after just two races in a short-lived stint that brought two Q1 exits and no points in the RB21.
The team’s decision to replace him with Yuki Tsunoda left Lawson returning to Racing Bulls and into the VCARB 02, despite having dreamed of turning his Red Bull debut into a long-term opportunity.
“It’s been a lot,” Lawson admitted in an interview with F1.com.
“Obviously the start of the year, [we had] the big shake-up with the team switch, and then not really having the time to get to grips with things, racing every weekend, and trying to be at the level that I need to be at.”
While the Red Bull exit was widely seen as a brutal call after Lawson’s impressive showings as a substitute for Daniel Ricciardo in 2023 and then a full-time starter late in 2024, the Kiwi has made it clear that his self-belief never faltered.
“It’s been very heavily speculated that my confidence took a hit and stuff like this, which is completely false,” he said.
“From the start of the year, I felt the same as I always have.”
Lawson pointed to the lack of testing, unfamiliarity with circuits, and a tight turnaround at the start of the year as major challenges, rather than any cracks in his mindset.
“I think in two races, on tracks I’d never been to, it’s not really enough for my confidence,” he said
“Maybe six months into a season, if I’m still at that level, if the results are still like that, then I’d be feeling something – maybe my confidence would be taking a hit.
“I was well aware that those results weren’t good enough, but I was just focused on improving, fixing and learning, basically.
“I was in the same mindset as I have been since I came into F1.
“I think that was the biggest thing going into a team like that, in a car like that… it was going to take a bit of time to adjust and learn.
“With no proper testing, the issues in testing, the issues in Melbourne through practice… it wasn’t smooth and clean.
“I needed time, and I wasn’t given it.”
While Lawson hasn’t spoken much about the circumstances of his demotion until now, he made it clear he’s been determined to move forward and focus on performance, not speculation.
“I haven’t really talked much about it, because I think for a big part of this year, I’ve just ignored everything that happened, and I’ve just focused on trying to drive the car,” he said.
“But I know there was a lot of stuff that went out that was speculation about how I was feeling.
“My confidence hasn’t changed since the start of the year to now.”
Since his demotion, his results have gradually improved to show signs of the form that earned him that Red Bull seat in the first place.
After taking a few rounds to get to grips with the VCARB 02, Lawson delivered standout performances in Monaco and Austria, finishing a career-best P6 at the Red Bull Ring, behind only the McLarens, Ferraris and George Russell’s Mercedes.
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“Why Austria was a great weekend was obviously just to have that breakthrough of points, and I guess probably show a little bit of what’s been building for a while,” Lawson admitted. “But also what needs to be coming more frequently.”
He credits a gradual build-up in form, rather than any overnight fix.
“No breakthroughs, just gradual build-up,” Lawson added. “Even from the first triple-header, the speed was good. It wasn’t great, but it was quite good there. Since then, it’s been in a pretty good place.
“We’ve gone to a lot of tracks… Monaco we were very strong in practice; Barcelona strong in practice; Canada strong in practice.
“Then you go to qualifying and little things make a difference. It’s not good enough, because the results haven’t been coming consistently enough, but the speed itself has been quite good.”
He said his focus now remains on being consistent, something he acknowledged is especially difficult given how tight the 2025 grid has become.
“F1 in general is very, very close right now,” Lawson said. “So it puts pressure on us, and the team, to first of all bring the best package we have to a race.
“If you arrive at a track and your car’s way out of the window, and you’re trying to chase it, everybody else is improving.
“It’s so close that we’re just trying to find half a tenth here and half a tenth there.
“All the way up until the final two corners of the lap you’re in a position where you’re going to go through to Q2, and one little thing, a tiny error, can just knock you out. You lose one or two-tenths and then you’re on the receiving end.
“The car’s consistently been quite strong recently. I think we’re in a good place, and we’re just trying to keep the trajectory going upwards.”
Lawson said he is also looking to maximise the rest of the season by racking up consistent points finishes, rather than relying on one-off results.
“I think for us, it’s just having more frequent, good races – not one-off races,” he said. “It’s very, very hard, especially in the midfield, where you’re trying to have that edge over everybody else around you.
“You’re quite often fighting for [a few] points at the back end of the top 10, and occasionally when things are really good you get an Austria weekend, but it’s very hard to achieve that all the time.
“I would say a consistent run of points is what we’re looking for, to have [fewer] of these weekends where it’s little issues, being knocked out in Q1 and things like that.”
F1 returns on July 25-27 for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
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