How Red Bull now feel ‘internally’ about Liam Lawson returning to the team after 2025 F1 demotion

Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson wouldn’t have expected to be described as a Racing Bulls driver this early in the season after his winter promotion.

Red Bull knew they had a tough choice to make when it was confirmed Sergio Perez had been dropped following a disappointing second half to the 2024 F1 campaign.

However, Max Verstappen appeared to be all too aware that the team’s problems weren’t going to be suddenly solved once the Mexican left the team, as has been proved over the past few months.

Liam Lawson didn’t have the easiest start to life as a Red Bull driver, with his testing schedule during pre-season disrupted and the worst possible conditions in Australia to deal with on his debut.

Lawson was also the least experienced driver on the Melbourne street circuit, putting him at an immediate disadvantage.

Red Bull heard Lawson’s frustration over the team radio in China, and that proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, although it’s now obvious that this specific camel wasn’t particularly strong to begin with.

The New Zealander is now trying to re-establish himself at Racing Bulls alongside Isack Hadjar, but will no doubt still have one eye on a return to the senior team further down the line.

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

Red Bull ‘internally’ feel that Liam Lawson’s chances of a return are very slim

Journalist Edd Straw was speaking on The Race F1 Podcast about Lawson’s start to the 2025 F1 season.

Aside from being dropped by Red Bull, the 23-year-old is one of four point-less drivers on the grid, and managed to pick up 15 seconds worth of penalties at the Bahrain Grand Prix for various collisions.

Asked about his current situation, Straw explained: “I think Lawson will definitely get better, his pace has been decent.

“He’s had a little bit of bad luck in the two races. He would have been in Q2 had the DRS not closed, which admittedly he could have been on, because according to the team, he had a bit of wheel spin in the traction zone coming out of turn 10 and because the DRS zone starts so early on that straight, he was in the DRS zone, so he lifted and it shut.

“And just a lack of familiarity with the car, he forgot that.

“I’m sure Lawson will recover form and Lawson will get back to what he can be, which I suspect his level in F1 is a handy midfield driver, not a superstar, and that’s going to make him vulnerable.

“I’d be surprised if there’s a way back to Red Bull Racing simply because Red Bull have always said whenever they’ve demoted someone, publicly they say there’s a chance, but I know the feeling internally is don’t go back once you’ve rejected someone.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

What chance does Arvid Lindblad have of replacing Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls?

The second part of the question that Straw was asked related to the chances of Lawson being replaced by Arvid Lindblad this season.

Straw continued: “Lindblad, maybe, he’s not 18 until August. He’s very highly rated, but he probably needs to produce a little bit more consistency.

“He’s had sort of an OK start to the F2 season, and I know you can look at the example of Antonelli and Bearman and say, well, what does F2 have to do with anything?

“But I’m sure they’re leaning towards promoting Lindblad, but I wouldn’t say it’s a foregone conclusion.

“Well, he can’t be in before late in the season this year anyway. I don’t even think it’s a foregone conclusion that he’ll be in the car next year.

“They might want to just let him play his way into F2 and then be in down the line. So I think Lawson’s got time.”

Lindblad has risen through the junior ranks incredibly quickly, and while he raced in Formula 3, unlike Kimi Antonelli, there are plenty of parallels that can be drawn between the two drivers.

The Italian has also become the blueprint for a lack of Formula 2 success, not necessarily correlating with a driver struggling when they reach F1.

Lawson does have time on his side because of Lindblad’s age, but Red Bull will be desperate to discover the next world-class talent in their academy.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear as though Lawson fits into the category for them anymore.