A timeline of Lawson’s short stint with Red Bull F1

Liam Lawson is set to be dropped by Red Bull after just two grands prix for the Formula 1 squad and he is due to be replaced by former team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

The New Zealander moved from sister squad RB, now Racing Bulls, for 2025 after Sergio Perez was ousted having massively struggled against Red Bull star Max Verstappen finishing 285 points below him last year.

RB duo Lawson and Tsunoda were therefore in contention to become Verstappen’s team-mate with Red Bull opting for the former despite only 11 grand prix starts to his name.

But the Austrian outfit is now set to reverse its decision, so here is a look at the key dates of Lawson’s three-month stint with the team. 

19 December, 2024 – Red Bull confirm Lawson as Perez replacement

On Wednesday 19 December, Red Bull officially announced Lawson as Verstappen’s team-mate for 2025 having confirmed Perez’s departure the day prior. 

That came despite Perez originally being contracted for the forthcoming year, but disappointing form from the six-time grand prix winner caused endless speculation that 2024 will be his final season at Red Bull.

The confirmation finally came, but the options to replace him were slim. So, Red Bull continued with its traditional route of promoting drivers from its junior squad, where Lawson made his F1 debut in 2023 when the team was known as AlphaTauri.

Lawson’s first race was the Dutch Grand Prix when he replaced the injured Daniel Ricciardo, before contesting the next four rounds before the Aussie’s return. Lawson then replaced the underperforming Ricciardo for good for the final six grands prix of 2024, a run which saw the then 22-year-old score four points compared to Tsunoda’s eight. 

Upon his promotion, Lawson said: “It is a lifelong dream of mine to be announced as a Red Bull Racing driver.”

25 February, 2025 – Lawson present as Red Bull launched its 2025 F1 car

While Red Bull launched its 2025 livery at F175, it officially unveiled the RB21 a week later. Red Bull’s focus was on improving car balance, as the RB20 proved difficult to drive and such unpredictability caused the competition to close and eventually overtake the 2023 world champions.

The event was also a chance for Lawson to reflect on his move to Red Bull and he was well aware early on that going up against Verstappen in his own team would be the New Zealander’s hardest challenge yet.

“There is no one you can learn better from,” Lawson said of Verstappen, “but the knife cuts both ways. We’re all in F1 to win and Max is the toughest one to beat.”

Lawson was aware of the pressure associated with this switch. He said he had no specific timeline for achieving his first victory, but his ultimate goal was clear: win races and become world champion. There was no shortage of ambition and confidence at that time, but the first meters in the RB21 were yet to follow.

26 February, 2025 – The start of pre-season testing in Bahrain

Lawson took to the circuit for his first official session as a Red Bull F1 driver, by contesting pre-season testing for the 2025 campaign.

He shared the car with Verstappen on the opening day, where Lawson drove 58 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit clocking a best time of 1m31.560s. Although the result did not say much about the pure speed of the RB21, it was important for the team to gain insight into the performance of the car.

Yet it was still a difficult day for Lawson, who spun at Turns 2 and 3 but without damage. Lawson quickly brushed off the incident and indicated at the end of the session that he was satisfied with his performance.

27 February, 2025 – Lawson continues to learn in pre-season testing

The second day of Bahrain testing provided more learning moments for Lawson, who did not have to share the Red Bull with Verstappen on the Thursday. 

Lawson drove 91 laps and improved his best time to a 1m30.252s, despite technical concerns for the car which included a cooling problem with the turbo and rain that disrupted the programme. Lawson was still satisfied though, stating “I’m starting to feel more and more comfortable with the car”.

14 March, 2025 – Difficult opening day at the Australian GP

The 2025 F1 season started in Australia and Lawson’s torrid campaign thus far has been difficult from the start as he finished 16th and 17th in the Melbourne Friday practice sessions – where he was much slower than Verstappen.

Lawson was self-critical saying he was “comfortable but too slow” before adding “we expect to have some work to do after the first day on a new track, but not as much as we have now”.

Team boss Christian Horner was sympathetic though, stressing that Lawson is still a rookie and needed time to grow.

“Liam, it’s a big step up,” Horner told Sky Sports F1. “Being Max’s team-mate is probably the toughest job in Formula 1. But he’s got the mental aptitude and strength of character to deal with that.

“He’s not been here before, I think he’s the only driver on the grid that hasn’t done some laps around this circuit. But he’s finding his feet and giving some very good feedback, he’s settling in nicely. We’ll see over the next few races.”

15 March, 2025 – Lawson’s struggles continue with Q1 exit

A turbocharger problem caused a difficult final practice in Melbourne for Lawson, who entered qualifying without optimal preparation.

That was quickly shown, as he skidded off in Q1 causing Lawson to qualify in 18th for his Red Bull debut – the second-slowest time as Oliver Bearman failed to set a lap after crashing. 

“Missing third practice was costly and I shouldn’t have shot off the track myself,” lamented Lawson. It was the worst possible start, especially when Tsunoda qualified fifth in the VCARB02 to instantly put pressure on his former team-mate.

16 March, 2025 – Lawson crashes on debut grand prix for Red Bull

Lawson was hoping for rain on the Sunday given his low start position and his prayers were answered, but that is when things got even worse for him: he crashed out with 10 laps remaining, after the team opted to not pit him for intermediates. 

Red Bull put that down to Lawson already running outside of the points when the rain began to fall, so in general it was a very disappointing debut for the New Zealander and already a sign of things to come.

Again, Tsunoda continued to impress as, despite finishing outside of the points due to a misguided strategy when conditions became wet, he drove much of the race in the high scoring positions. 

21 March, 2025 – Last in sprint qualifying at the Chinese GP

Lawson’s adversity continued in Shanghai, where he finished 18th in the first and only free practice session. The situation did not improve either, as he finished last in sprint qualifying explaining that problems with tyre temperature prevented him from setting a competitive enough time. 

“I think from the starting point it wasn’t too bad; the first lap was alright, and then we were just looking to build on there, but we stayed out to try to cool the tyres on track,” said Lawson.

“To be honest, I really struggled to get the temps down, starting the second lap, so we started too hot and then through the lap I just struggled. It’s frustrating.

“It’s really a shame because I think honestly we started OK in quali – first lap wasn’t amazing, but it was relatively OK, so it’s just a shame to be out for something so frustrating. Our pace should be a lot further up than where we are.”

22 March, 2025 – Writing on the wall for Lawson

Lawson failed to recover much in the sprint having only finished 14th, yet that still earned praise from Marko for his hard work and aggressiveness. But it didn’t take much to look over at the Racing Bulls garage to see Tsunoda claim sixth in the sprint race to continue his fine form, perhaps in a determined bid to show Red Bull it promoted the wrong driver.

But, with another session on the Saturday in Shanghai still to play, Lawson had an opportunity to bounce back. Yet qualifying for the grand prix was again poor from Lawson, who finished last after two flying laps.

His first was only good enough for 19th, while on his final one he was held up by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly through Turn 16 – but Lawson still made it clear that that shouldn’t have caused his early elimination.

“It was just one of those things – he [Gasly] decided to go for his lap early and I started my lap too close,” Lawson said. “But it shouldn’t be the difference between me getting through to Q2 and not getting through, we should really be getting there on the first lap. It’s something I need to get on top of.”

Tsunoda, meanwhile, advanced to the final part of qualifying again and he started the grand prix in ninth.

23 March, 2025 – No signs of improvement

Lawson eventually started the Chinese Grand Prix from the pitlane due to some pre-race set-up changes, which still did not have the desired impact as the Red Bull driver once again finished outside of the points. He crossed the line in 16th, but eventually bumped up to 12th due to a time penalty for Jack Doohan and disqualifications for both Ferraris and Gasly. 

Despite the gulf in performance between Verstappen and Lawson becoming even more apparent during the grand prix, the four-time world champion was still sympathetic with his team-mate saying the Racing Bulls car is easier to drive than the RB21.

That was still no consolation for Lawson though, who admitted he is “not going to be around” for long should his current performances continue. And the speculation was starting to indicate that, as it already emerged during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend that Lawson’s future was in doubt with Tsunoda set for a promotion.

25 March, 2025 – Consultation on unprecedented early driver swap

On the 25 March, all signs started to indicate that Red Bull is now ready to drop Lawson for Tsunoda ahead of next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

While Lawson has continuously struggled this year, Tsunoda is yet to put a foot wrong leading to Marko labelling him as a “different Yuki from the years before”.

“He is in the form of his life,” he added. “He has a different approach. He’s more mature. It took a while, but now it looks like it’s working”.