What looked like a promising start to the 2025 season for Liam Lawson after being promoted to Red Bull, has turned into a nightmare on track.
Lawson contested two races with Red Bull before being demoted to Racing Bulls, having struggled to adapt to the RB21.
Max Verstappen believes Yuki Tsunoda is going through the same process, having replaced Lawson at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Lawson only just recently scored his first points at the Monaco GP, but just missed out at the Spanish GP when he finished in P11.
While it looks like his confidence has taken a knock, the 23-year-old has been doing a lot of work behind the scenes, according to team principal Laurent Mekies in an interview with Formula1.it.
Liam Lawson doing a lot of work behind the scenes at Racing Bulls
Lawson’s reputation on track has taken a hit recently, after F1 fans noticed that he was getting into a lot of unnecessary near-misses with drivers.
Even though it has been a mixed bag of results compared to teammate Isack Hadjar in the same car, Mekies is not worried about Lawson’s lack of progress.
“Speaking of Lawson yes, he took a big hit in the Red Bull races. No one could have imagined all that, but now it’s over. He came back to us, getting in the car without knowing it,” said Mekies.
“We have seen him make important progress: the talent we all know is coming back. Maybe he hasn’t been seen, but he’s pushing really hard and doing well: it means that he feels good about himself and the team.”
Isack Hadjar has surprised everyone with 2025 form
Hadjar has surprised everyone in the F1 paddock with his performance in 2025, consistently scoring points for Racing Bulls.
The Frenchman has gained praise from Racing Bulls staff, who are impressed with how well he bounced back from his start crash in Melbourne to now leading their effort in the Constructors’ Championship.
| Category | Isack Hadjar | Liam Lawson |
| 2025 points | 21 | 4 |
| Grand Prix results | 7 | 0 |
| Grand Prix qualifying | 6 | 1 |
| Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix poles | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix podiums | 0 | 0 |
| Best finish | 6th | 8th |
| Retirements | 0 | 0 |
| Retirements (classified finish) | 0 | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix points finishes | 4 | 1 |
| Sprint results | 1 | 0 |
| Sprint Qualifying | 1 | 0 |
| Sprint wins | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint poles | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint podiums | 0 | 0 |
Against an experienced teammate like Lawson, it was expected that the New Zealander would regain some confidence having struggled as Verstappen’s teammate.
Instead, Hadjar has been putting in some impressive performances and has out-qualified Lawson at nearly every race they have been teammates.
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