Liam Lawson made it clear that Red Bull demoting him after two rounds of F1 2025 was not something he saw coming at all.

And as F1 2025 moves on to Suzuka, a venue which unlike Melbourne and China, Lawson knows very well, the New Zealander was seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Red Bull decision a ‘shock’ to Lawson: Right call made?

Lawson had failed to escape Q1 or score a point in his first two race weekends with Red Bull, that including qualifying slowest for the China Sprint and Grand Prix, triggering Red Bull to call-up Yuki Tsunoda and send Lawson back to the junior team in a straight swap.

And as he prepares for his first race back with Racing Bulls at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, Lawson said this was not a scenario which he had been expecting.

“It was definitely a shock, honestly,” he told Sky F1. “It’s not something that I saw coming.

“The discussions we were having as well, I think, weren’t really leaning in this direction, so it was definitely not something that I sort of expected.”

Likened to a “battered boxer” by Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko, who believed Lawson had fallen into a “downward spiral”, the New Zealander was asked if he was frustrated to have not been given more time to turn his situation around.

“Honestly, yes,” he confirmed.

“Obviously, I would have loved more time. And I felt like with more time, especially going to places that I’d been before… it was a tough start. We had a rocky testing. We had a rocky first weekend in Melbourne with practice. And then obviously China was a Sprint.

“I think going to places that I’d been before with the way the car was quite tricky, I think that would have helped and I would have loved that opportunity. But obviously, it’s not my decision, so I’m here to make the most of this one.”

Lawson was speaking at a Red Bull event in Japan ahead of the race weekend, where Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also gave his take on the situation, revealing that Red Bull personnel were coming to him with strong concerns over Lawson.

“I think we were asking too much of him too soon,” Horner admitted, Lawson having been promoted to Red Bull with only 11 grands prix under his belt.

“And so this is for him to, again, nurture that talent that we know that he has, back in the Racing Bulls seat, whilst giving Yuki the opportunity and looking to make use of the experience that he has.

“I think with everything that we saw in Australia and China, you could see that it was really affecting Liam quite badly.

“We could have left it, and I think that Liam is a driver with talent. Maybe within half a season he would have got there, but we just don’t have that amount of time.

“It was something that was very clear to the engineering side within the team, just how much Liam was struggling with it all, and you could see that weight upon his shoulders.

“The engineers were coming to me very concerned about it, and at the end of the day, I think it was the logical thing to do.”

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The first step in Lawson’s redemption mission will play out at Suzuka, a familiar hunting ground from his 2023 Super Formula season, while he also raced here with Red Bull’s second team in 2023 when replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo.

“I’m really looking forward to be racing in Japan this weekend,” he said. “Suzuka is one of my favourite tracks on the calendar.

“It’s cool to drive and very high speed, which makes it great fun in a Formula 1 car.

“This weekend is a big opportunity for me as I rejoin Visa Cash App Racing Bulls and I’m very excited to work with this team again.

“As always, I’ll be giving it everything I have.“

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