Red Bull policy change: Drivers to be given a second chance – Liam Lawson’s lifelong dream of driving for Red Bull Racing lasted just two grands prix before he was shunted down the ladder. But while his stint as Max Verstappen’s teammate was short-lived, the New Zealander insists his fight fora long-term Formula 1 career is far from over.
Back in the spring, Helmut Marko tried to soften the blow. “He’s not being demoted — he’s moving to Racing Bulls,” the Red Bull advisor said, stressing that the Faenza-based team had “a very competitive car, much easier to handle than the RB21.”
Privately, though, the move was seen as brutal. After pre-season struggles in Bahrain and a difficult opening run of two race weekends — compounded by a cancelled practice session in Australia that hurt his preparation — Lawson’s confidence took a hit. “It was a downward spiral we needed to break,” Marko explained.
Lawson abrupt demotion
Only months earlier, Lawson had been hailed as Red Bull’s next big thing. Thrust into the limelight after replacing Daniel Ricciardo at the junior team in 2024, he looked nailed on to succeed Sergio Pérez. Over the winter that dream became reality. But barely weeks into 2025, it was over.
The demotion left his F1 future hanging by a thread. Critics wondered whether he’d even survive the season at Racing Bulls, especially with Red Bull protégé Arvid Lindblad lighting up Formula 2 and paddock whispers suggested that he could be parachuted straight into F1.
Isack Hadjar, Lawson’s new teammate, wasn’t making life easier. The rookie immediately outperformed him, reaching Q3 three times and scoring points in Japan and Saudi Arabia while Lawson failed to crack the top ten. By May, his seat looked under threat.
Monaco turning point
Monaco marked a turning point. Though still trailing Hadjar in qualifying, Lawson was close enough on the grid to execute a clever strategy that bagged points for both cars. Soon after, updates to Racing Bulls’ front suspension clicked with his driving style. Austria brought a breakthrough, Spa consolidated it, and in Hungary Lawson not only scored again but even finished ahead of Verstappen on a bold one-stop strategy.
“He’s done a great job,” said Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane. “We had a new front suspension, developed in the simulator, and Liam really liked it. You could see after Austria he had a spring back in his step.”
Lawson himself denies ever losing confidence, but admits the car now feels like his own. “Nothing huge has changed, just some small things that made me more comfortable,” he said. “The speed was always there, but consistency wasn’t. Now it is — and the challenge is keeping it.”
Wolff responds to brutal Rosberg attack
Lawson catches Hadjar
Ironically, while Lawson rebuilt momentum, Yuki Tsunoda — the man who took his Red Bull seat — began to falter. The Japanese driver has scored points only twice since Monaco, while Lawson has out-qualified him four times. On paper, Tsunoda has the quicker car, yet more often than not it’s Lawson starting ahead.
That shift has raised awkward questions inside Red Bull. Was Lawson really the problem in the RB21? Or was the second seat doomed by car differences and impossible expectations?
Despite flashes of form, Lawson remains realistic. After 12 races he has just 20 points — two shy of Hadjar, but not the tally of a surefire Red Bull returnee. “Three good races aren’t enough,” he admitted. “I need to do more of this before anything else is even possible.”
No Red Bull driver second chances
That blunt assessment reflects the reality: under Christian Horner, no driver ever got a second chance at Red Bull. Pierre Gasly proved himself at AlphaTauri with podiums and even a win, yet was never recalled. But with Laurent Mekies now steering the ship and Red Bull still searching for Verstappen’s long-term partner, the rules of engagement may have changed.
For Lawson, the summer break is a chance to regroup. He heads into it upbeat, buoyed by the knowledge that tracks he knows well are coming — and hopeful that momentum carries through.
“The second half’s going to be exciting,” he said in Hungary. “But right now I’m just looking forward to a few weeks off.”
Verstappen gives Marko his word
Liam Lawson may have lost his Red Bull seat in brutal fashion, but he hasn’t lost the plot. His gritty recovery at Racing Bulls has put him back in the conversation, even if only as an option Red Bull can’t ignore while Tsunoda struggles and rivals circle. The second half of 2025 will decide whether Lawson is merely a stopgap, or a driver capable of clawing his way back into F1’s top tier.
In other matters Red Bull Racing, reports have emerged that Max Verstappen acted quickly following the sacking of team boss Christian Horner. To that point despite being interrogated each week in the paddock, the F1 champion and refused to confirm or deny as to whether he would remain with the team in 2026.
During a question and answer session on Reddit, Brazilian journalist Julianne Cerasoli was asked why Verstappen didn’t move to Mercedes. It seems Toto Wolff was ready to oust either George Russell or Kimi Antonelli, neither of whom have signed an extension yet, to land his dream target. Cerasoli says his ‘contract didn’t allow him to leave’. But she also reveals that Verstappen ‘promised Marko he’d stay for another year’.
Deal agreed over 2027
Further, despite having a contract up to the end of 2028, Red Bull have now agreed Verstappen may leave at the end of next year, if the team fail to provide him with a competitive cat. Now almost 100 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, all hopes of a re4cord fifth consecutive F1 drivers’ title is finished for this season, but Max won’t stand for another year like this again.
Of course with a massive rules reset coming in 2026, it may not be Mercedes who come out on top. Aston Martin have brand new state of the art premises, the greatest F1 car designer of all time in Adrian Newey, the mastermind behind the all conquering 2014 Mercedes power unit – Andy Cowell, and the reigning champion power unit supplier in Honda.
For now the team are sticking with their 43 year old Spanish double world. Champion and team owners son Lance Stroll. However, should Newey, Cowell and Honda ace their 2026 F1 car, Verstappen and others will be knocking on the gates of the Silverstone HQ.
FIA admits HUGE 2026 cockup
FIA admit changes required to make 2026 cars faster – When Formula 1’s new regulation set for the 2026 cars and power units was first unveiled ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix in 2024, the reception from paddock observers was lukewarm warm. The FIA vision of the next F1 era had promised a radical rebalancing of the formula—lighter, nimbler cars with active aerodynamics, paired with power units split evenly between internal combustion and electrical energy. But lurking behind the glossy renders and FIA bullish press releases was a problem that threatened to embarrass the sport: the new cars were projected to be significantly slower.
For a championship that sells itself as the pinnacle of motorsport, being two or three seconds off the pace of today’s machinery was never going to fly. Drivers, engineers, and even the fans grumbled that Formula 1 risked producing cars slower than Formula 2 in some conditions. That criticism has now pushed the FIA and the teams to act, and the result is a set of tweaks that have clawed back much of the lost performance.
Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s head of single-seater matters, has been the man most publicly defending the new formula. Speaking recently, he confirmed that the incoming cars will now be roughly “one second slower per lap” than the current generation—rather than the three-second deficit feared last year….. READ MORE
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Yes, Red Bull isn’t known to give second chances to demoted or sacked drivers in their main team, but this approach is unlikely to change because Marko still has a say in driver matters & Mekies has less overall control than Horner did.
Additionally, Lawson’s situation is a bit different from Kvyat’s, Gasly’s, Albon’s, Perez’s, & Tsunoda’s (given his GP amount in the main team once the season is over) as he only did two GPs in the main team before losing his drive, so he could still have a chance, albeit Hadjar still has the upper hand for the time being at least.
All things considered, since Tsunoda’s days in the Red Bull organization are clearly numbered & Lindblad is all but confirmed to become a full-time F1 driver from next season, the 2026 lineups will likely be VER-HAD/LAW & LAW/HAD-LIN.