Red Bull in for a surprise with Lawson comeback – Liam Lawson’s Formula 1 career has been a tale of tantalising promise mixed with frustrating setbacks, served with a Red Bull-branded energy shot of confusion. Yet just when you thought his chapter in the Milton Keynes saga might be over, along comes a newspaper from his native New Zealand waving a flag of hope.
According to The Herald, Lawson’s F1 journey with the energy drink empire may be far from finished. In fact, whispers from the paddock suggest that a surprise comeback to the senior Red Bull Racing team isn’t entirely off the menu.
Quite the twist for a driver who, at the beginning of the year, was being rotated through the Red Bull system faster than a can through a student on exam day.
A lightning demotion, a slow recovery
Lawson’s brush with the top tier came and went with alarming speed. After being promoted to Red Bull Racing in early 2025 alongside Max Verstappen, Lawson managed just two races before being unceremoniously rotated out of the seat.
In Australia, his race ended prematurely. In China, he earned the dubious distinction of finishing last in both qualifying sessions, sprint and main, and scraped together a modest twelfth in the race. With a performance record that read more like a job application to RaceFans Anonymous than a permanent Red Bull driver seat, it was back to the Racing Bulls for the 23-time Grand Prix starter.
Marko’s invisible hand in the sacking of Horner
There, however, Lawson began to claw back some dignity
While he hasn’t exactly lit up the timing screens, the New Zealander has found a steadier rhythm in the mid-field chaos of VCARB. Unfortunately for him, his teammate Isack Hadjar, the wide-eyed rookie who was supposed to learn from Lawson, has apparently skipped the tutorial and gone straight to domination mode.
Hadjar has, so far, scored nearly twice the number of points, and has looked the more assured driver in wheel-to-wheel combat.
And yet, in Formula 1, it’s not just about who finishes higher on Sunday. Sometimes, it’s about who looks better on the team PowerPoint.
The quiet architect behind VCARB’s leap
According to The Herald, Liam Lawson may not be racking up the points, but he has been racking up internal credit. The New Zealand outlet claims Lawson has been instrumental in helping the VCARB02 develop into the surprisingly competitive midfield machine it is today.
He’s also said to have served as a mentor to Hadjar, Red Bull’s latest overachieving child prodigy, guiding the rookie through the murky depths of F1’s political and technical jungle.
This combination of technical feedback, leadership and general not-throwing-your-toys-out-the-pram behaviour has apparently not gone unnoticed in the higher echelons of Red Bull HQ.
It is “very likely,” says the paper, that Lawson will remain within the Red Bull fold for 2026, which, as anyone familiar with the company’s driver merry-go-round knows, is as close to a lifetime contract as it gets.
Could he return to the main team?
Now here’s where the rumour fuel starts to bubble
While Lawson remaining with the Racing Bulls as a senior figure seems all but confirmed, the article goes one step further, floating the possibility that the Kiwi could even return to Red Bull Racing itself.
Yes, that Red Bull Racing, the one with the trophies, the drama, and (for now) Max Verstappen.
With Verstappen’s future hanging in the balance, and his potential move to Mercedes being discussed more often than Christian Horner’s WhatsApp habits, the Red Bull driver lineup for 2026 is anything but locked in. Should Max vacate his throne, and if Red Bull choose not to elevate Hadjar directly (or if Hadjar pulls a Gasly and gets a bit seasick in the main team’s pressure cooker), then suddenly Lawson becomes… available, experienced, and still under contract.
Of course, there’s also the awkward matter of Yuki Tsunoda, who was expected to inherit Lawson’s seat permanently. But as of now, Yuki’s future seems no more certain than Red Bull’s taste in driver retention strategies.
Should Tsunoda be dropped, Hadjar promoted and Verstappen leave, the Red Bull universe could be looking for a stabilising presence. And that, dear Jury, could be where Lawson reappears—perhaps not as a star, but as a safe pair of hands.
Lindblad looming and the 2026 shakeup
If the Red Bull-Horner-Verstappen triangle breaks apart, as many suspect it will, a domino effect will ripple across both Red Bull teams. The 2026 regulation changes are set to reshuffle the F1 deck, and Red Bull will likely want at least one driver in each car who has experience navigating this soon-to-be chaotic new terrain.
Lawson, with his knowledge of the VCARB operation and some prior exposure to the senior squad, fits the bill. Red Bull has always had a type—hungry, loyal, well-drilled in the family rhetoric—and Lawson continues to tick those boxes.
Then there’s Arvid Lindblad, Red Bull junior darling and all-around wonder-kid, who is reportedly being eyed as Lawson’s teammate should he stay with the Racing Bulls. That would cast Lawson not just as a mid-field mentor, but as the grown-up in the room—yes, at 23—in a team increasingly reliant on talent so young they still get ID’d for Red Bull cans.
Not exactly the fairytale career arc he might have envisioned, but in F1, a second chance—even as the wise older sibling in a junior squad—can be just as valuable as a second podium.
But will it really happen?
For all the optimism swirling in The Herald’s report, one must apply the traditional Red Bull disclaimer: nothing is certain until Helmut Marko forgets your name. Lawson is liked, respected and useful—but those things have never guaranteed security in a system that eats rookies for breakfast and spits out champions by lunchtime.
Lawson’s best hope might be that Red Bull opts for a conservative approach in 2026 as they navigate new technical rules, potential driver departures, and post-Horner managerial uncertainty. In that scenario, retaining a known quantity like Lawson—someone who won’t crash the car while figuring out which button does what—could be the path of least resistance.
Of course, that assumes Red Bull Racing has started valuing stability. And if you believe that, there’s a Lego trophy I’d like to sell you.
So, dear Jury, what say you? Is Liam Lawson the next great redemption story in Formula 1, or just another name Red Bull keeps on speed dial in case things go sideways? Does he deserve a second shot at the big time, or has that ship already sailed into the endless energy drink ocean?
Comment below with your verdict, because this trial is far from over.
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Almost a week on from the sacking of Christian Horner, no explanation has emerged as to why the Red Bull boss was dismissed and in particular why now? In terms of changing the future direction of the Formula One team, there was no real urgency given they are well underway with their new powertrains division and designs for the radical new 2026 cars.
Of course, the night of the long knives had internal political motivations for the Austrian directors of the energy drinks empire, yet the fallout from their decisive action is yet to fully unravel and may include a forced sale of their Racing Bulls outfit.
On the face of it, the decision appeared to be a reaction to the persistent reports that Max Verstappen was leaving for Mercedes. But whilst those in Max’s corner were anti-Horner, there’s little evidence to suggests the world champion himself had any beef with the former Red Bull boss…READ MORE ON THIS STORY
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
