Liam Lawson shares ‘honest’ verdict on whether he benefitted from brutal Red Bull demotion

Follow us on Google Discover

Liam Lawson only lasted two rounds at Red Bull to start the 2025 F1 season, before the Kiwi was demoted back to Racing Bulls in a direct seat swap with Yuki Tsunoda.

Red Bull made the brutal decision to demote Lawson back to their junior team, having failed to see enough progress from the 23-year-old through the opening two rounds of the term in Australia and China. Lawson had only joined Red Bull last December to replace Sergio Perez.

Lawson frustrated Red Bull with his lack of adaptation to their car after he only qualified P18 for the Australian Grand Prix and P20 for the Chinese Grand Prix. Shanghai was the final nail in the coffin, as Lawson also qualified P20 for the F1 Sprint while Max Verstappen sealed P2.

Swapping seats with Tsunoda back in March ultimately saw Lawson get his career back on a better path with Racing Bulls. The New Zealander has earned 30 points over the 18 rounds he has spent back with the Faenza outfit, whereas Tsunoda has only scored 25 for Red Bull.

Liam Lawson thinks he benefitted from Red Bull demoting him back to Racing Bulls

Lawson achieved a career-high P5 in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this September, as well, after he even qualified P3 on the grid in Baku. And the Hastings native now feels Red Bull brutally demoting him back to Racing Bulls after just the first two rounds of the year actually helped.

READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know

While Lawson initially struggled to reset after returning to Racing Bulls in March, he thinks it ultimately helped leaving Red Bull so soon into the 2025 F1 season as it afforded him time to rebuild. The Kiwi now feels “a lot more comfortable” than when he first sat in the VCARB 02.

Lawson said, via quotes by RacingNews365: “I mean, that I’ll never know, to be honest. I can obviously look back on the year, and I think we’ve definitely found a lot of progress through the year [and] found a lot of things that have helped us.

“I can confidently say I’m in a much more comfortable position now than I was, especially when I first made the switch earlier in the season. Obviously, you’re just playing catch-up, and as the season went on, I got a lot more comfortable. So, I think so.”

Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson is still fighting for his future on the F1 grid

Lawson’s P8 in the Monaco Grand Prix, when the New Zealander even sacrificed his race to help Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar finish P6, returned his first points of the season in May. It took the New Zealander six rounds with Racing Bulls to get off the mark this season.

Despite Hadjar being on course to replace Tsunoda at Red Bull for 2026, the French rookie is also only nine points better off than Lawson through the 2025 season. Yet Lawson is fighting Tsunoda over the second Racing Bulls seat in 2026, with Arvid Lindlad now expected to join.

Lawson and Tsunoda are both out of contract following the 2025 F1 season, but Red Bull are yet to decide who will race for Racing Bulls alongside Lindblad in his rookie campaign. Points in the final four rounds in Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi may prove to be important.