Red Bull confirmed on Thursday that Lawson will return to Racing Bulls for next weekend’s race with his seat alongside Max Verstappen set to be filled by Yuki Tsunoda.
It’s a seismic shift just two races into the 2025 season, and it starkly contrasts the decision paralysis the squad endured with Sergio Perez last season.
The Perez ordeal has left a lasting impression on the Milton Keynes operation.
His struggles through much of 2024 contributed heavily to Red Bull’s slip from a comfortable position atop the constructors’ championship standings to third.
Now, two races in, and Lawson’s battles see the team in the same position.
This time, there has been no dalliance, when one might have reasonably expected one.
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To swap Lawson and Tsunoda now is both brutal and decisive, traits that were lacking a year ago when Perez was continually given another chance.
But it’s important to note that this isn’t the end of the road for Lawson, who will line up for Racing Bulls in Suzuka next weekend.
While it’s not the senior team and expectations will be dampened as a result, he remains on the F1 grid and retains the support of Red Bull.
In his statement announcing Tsunoda’s promotion, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner noted that his team has “a duty of care to protect and develop Liam.”
Under the intense pressure that comes with being Max Verstappen’s teammate, coupled with a tricky car, he has quickly become the focus of the F1 media with constant questioning about his shortcomings.
Pulling him out of that environment is a wise call, if only for Lawson’s mental health, but there’s a strong argument to be made about it saving the young Kiwi’s career.
Allowed to continue, he’d quickly become damaged goods – whether that’s a fair reflection or not.
Instead, he has the opportunity to rebuild at Racing Bulls, without the same scrutiny has he’s had in recent weeks.
And the Racing Bulls VCARB02 has proved a handy car; Isack Hadjar qualified inside the top 10 in China in what was only his second grand prix weekend.
Hadjar is an inexperienced driver in a largely unfamiliar car, but he proved to be as capable as Tsunoda in Shanghai.
That points to a user-friendly machine that inspires confidence, something Lawson has not had since he first climbed into the Red Bull in pre-season testing.
Indeed, in promoting the Tsunoda driver, Horner made specific mention of the foibles of his team’s current car.
“We acknowledge there is a lot of work to be done with the RB21 and Yuki’s experience will prove highly beneficial in helping to develop the current car,” he said.
In promoted Tsunoda, Horner has essentially asked him with helping refocus development while performing better than Lawson could.
It’s a big ask, but that is the way Red Bull tends to roll.
Conversely, Lawson will return to Racing Bulls, a team he knows well, tasked with rebuilding his confidence.
It’s a more compliant car with a wider performance window, though it’s maximum potential is not the same as the RB21.
There are other benefits too, such as being compared with Hadjar and not a four-time world champion who’s been with the team for a decade.
Verstappen’s Red Bull tenure is as while Horner claims the team does not design its car around him, it’s only natural that development will follow a path that nets results, and Verstappen has delivered many positive returns in recent years.
That has shaped the way the car has been designed and, unwittingly, created a car largely tailored to the 63-time race winner.
For a time Perez could live with that.
The Mexican was there at the start of the current regulation cycle and for a moment even looked like he could be a title contender in 2023, but ultimately couldn’t live with the car as development took it down a path ill-suited to his driving style.
The same can reasonably be said of Lawson, who inherited a car with a long Verstappen-led back story.
One can infer Tsunoda will face similar hurdles, though to what extent remains to be seen.
Also unclear is what will define success for Tsunoda, given scoring points and supporting Verstappen is simply meeting expectations.
Ironically, Lawson’s chances of success look rather better; Pierre Gasly has trodden that path before him.
The Frenchman won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix with AlphaTauri – as Racing Bulls was previously known – and has since gone on to make a solid name for himself in F1; he is a desirable driver and team leader at Alpine.
Had he remained alongside Verstappen at Red Bull, he’d potentially have had a few more race wins, but would his career have been notably different?
Lawson could well do the same. He has been afforded a lifeline and the chance to reinvent himself, an opportunity to carve out a permanent place on the F1 grid.
Being bumped from Red Bull is not the end of the story, and the door remains open for a return to Red Bull in the right circumstances.
But before that, Lawson’s first task to return to Suzuka, a track he knows well, with Racing Bulls, a team he knows even better, with a car that took an F1 rookie into the top 10 in qualifying last time out.
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