Liam Lawson

Liam Lawson was demoted from Red Bull back to Racing Bulls after just two races in the 2025 F1 season.

After Sergio Perez's dismissal at the end of 2024, Lawson was announced as Max Verstappen's teammate for 2025. The Kiwi got the nod over Yuki Tsunoda, despite the latter winning the qualifying head-to-head 6-0 in 2024 when they were teammates at the sister team.

But Lawson was immediately under huge pressure and, after two drab results, lost his seat.

He will spend the rest of 2025 back at the sister team rebuilding his confidence and form.

Liam Lawson's route into F1

Despite his limited F1 experience, Lawson was immediately a close match for Tsunoda in 2024, with Red Bull favouring the former due to his temperament and adaptability. 

Lawson got his F1 opportunity in 2023 when Daniel Ricciardo sustained an injury at the Dutch Grand Prix. This chance followed several promising years in the junior categories. Lawson also impressed Red Bull bosses with his DTM (German touring cars) campaign in 2021, where he finished as runner-up after a controversial season finale.

Lawson has shown flashes of pace, scoring points on three occasions. Notably, he knocked Max Verstappen out of making it into Q3 at the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix.

However, two poor races for Red Bull led to them brutally dropping him for the Japanese Grand Prix, giving Tsunoda a chance.