Liam Lawson has realised Max Verstappen was right all along after Racing Bulls return at Japanese Grand Prix

Liam Lawson is back at Racing Bulls after just two races at Red Bull in the 2025 Formula 1 season.

The New Zealander, like his predecessors, struggled to get to grips with his machinery’s sensitive setup. Red Bull had felt Lawson would be ‘more aligned’ to Max Verstappen’s driving style than Sergio Perez, but Christian Horner would be proved wrong.

In two Grand Prix with Red Bull, the 23-year-old was knocked out of Q1 – qualifying last twice in China – and failed to score a point. Such a dismal start promoted the Milton Keynes-based outfit to drop Lawson ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, with Yuki Tsunoda replacing him.

The move is by far Red Bull’s most brutal mid-season driver swap. Lawson has now had the shortest stint with the team in their history.

Several key figures were against the move – including his Red Bull teammate. Verstappen did not agree with Lawson’s demotion as he felt his results would have been better if the RB21 was easier to drive.

Even the Dutchman has been encountering difficulties with the car. So much so that Verstappen even said Lawson would do better at Racing Bulls as the VCARB 02 appears a smoother package – he would be proven right at the Japanese Grand Prix.

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Japanese Grand Prix data shows Racing Bulls were faster than Red Bull in practice

Horner stated Red Bull had a ‘duty of care’ to protect Lawson and subsequently took him out of the team’s high-pressure situation.

Lawson’s camp have welcomed the demotion to Racing Bulls as he is entering a familiar environment with a car that has proven to have performance. Tsunoda reached Q3 in every session in Australia and China, with teammate Isack Hadjar lining up P7 in Shanghai.

Laurent Mekies says Lawson will create longer debriefs at Racing Bulls due to his limited knowledge of the VCARB 02. Despite this, he has every reason to be excited about his new car looking at the data from Friday’s practice at Suzuka.

Journalist Ronald Vording noted on X (formerly Twitter) that both Racing Bulls were ahead of Verstappen in FP2. The VCARB 02 proved to be ‘especially faster’ than the RB21 down the straights.

Vording also stated that Lawson found the Racing Bulls has a ‘bigger window’ while Verstappen felt there was still more work to do at Red Bull. It seems the former has realised his teammate was right about the VCARB 02 and its true performance.

Racing Bulls’ performance proves Red Bull driver switch will benefit Liam Lawson more than Yuki Tsunoda

Jacques Villeneuve says Lawson ‘collapsed’ at Red Bull as he desperately struggled to understand the RB21. Given the ‘curse of the second Red Bull seat’, it is feared the same could happen to Tsunoda.

Thus far, the Japanese driver has had an encouraging start to life at the Milton Keynes squad. Tsunoda impressed Helmut Marko on the simulator, where he even said the Red Bull was not hard to drive.

However, Tsunoda faces the same problem as Lawson in that he has had little preparation in the 2025 car. Furthermore, it seems the team are putting extra pressure on the 24-year-old.

Horner thinks Tsunoda can adapt faster than Lawson, stating it would have taken the latter ‘half a season’ to get used to the RB21. The Japanese driver will be expected to help develop the car as quickly as possible before the team lose out in the fight for the championship.

Lawson may benefit more than Tsunoda from the driver swap, given the low expectations on him, and the Nw Zealander seems to be taking that into his stride already. Fans have noticed Lawson is much happier at Racing Bulls and he will be keen to keep his career back on track.