Lawson began 2025 as Max Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull, but was dropped after just two races and sent back to Racing Bulls in a swap that saw Tsunoda promoted in his place.
Since then, Lawson has rebuilt his form, scoring 20 points to Tsunoda’s seven — including points in three of the last four races — underlining his progress.
Reflecting on the situation, Lawson admitted it was tough to watch Tsunoda endure the same difficulties he faced.
“It’s tricky because when I looked back at how it was for me, I was there two races on two tracks I’d never been to and I think I more look back and think that maybe I was naive to think that I would be given the time to adapt to it,” Lawson told Sky Sports F1.
“So 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.”
Despite the setback, Lawson insists his dream remains unchanged: becoming Formula 1 world champion, whether or not it is with Red Bull.
“The dream I’ve had since I was five years old has been world champion,” he said. “It 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.”
Chasing that goal has given Lawson an appreciation of just how high the bar has been set inside Red Bull, particularly by Verstappen.
He recalled his first experience sharing a track with the Dutchman during his debut weekend at Zandvoort in 2023.
“My first time ever in F1 was here,” he said. “It was wet. Max, I let him by and he came around me and I watched the way he just slid the car out to the curb on the exit.
“After watching him do that I was just like, I’m just nowhere near that comfortable to slide and I came around the next lap and I spun the car.”
Now firmly settled back at Racing Bulls, Lawson says the key is extracting everything from the package each weekend and continuing to build momentum.
“You learn things along the way that you go, okay, we’re gonna do this again next week because this worked pretty well for us this week and you learn things about the relationship with your engineer,” he said.
“He understands what you like, communication wise, and it just gets better and it gets more comfortable and you spend less time finding these things out.”
Lawson will start the Dutch Grand Prix in eighth place.
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