Liam Lawson was not aware that Red Bull were considering a driver swap with Yuki Tsunoda until he got the phone call from Christian Horner, and it was a “done deal”.

Red Bull shocked the F1 paddock last week when they announced, just two races into the F1 2025 season, a driver swap with Lawson returning to VCARB and Tsunoda taking the Red Bull seat.

Liam Lawson: I left China, starting preparations for Japan…

The decision was made after a brutal weekend in China where Lawson was slowest of all in both qualifying sessions, bringing his tally to three Q1 eliminations. Leaving Shanghai without a point on the board, Red Bull made the call to swap the drivers.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner explained: “We have a duty of care to protect and develop Liam and together, we see that after such a difficult start, it makes sense to act quickly so Liam can gain experience, as he continues his F1 career with Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, an environment and a team he knows very well.”

But while there had been speculation during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend that Red Bull could consider a swap, that gaining momentum after the Grand Prix, it came as a shock to the New Zealander when he got the call from Horner.

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Speaking with the media in Thursday’s driver press conference ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, Lawson revealed a few details about Horner’s phone call during which he has told of his return to VCARB. By then, it wasn’t a conversation so much as being informed that he had been demoted.

“No, I had no idea in China. It was something that was decided, I guess the Monday or Tuesday afterwards. I found out after China. I think for all of us it was probably more unexpected. But it was after the weekend,” he said.

“It was more of a done deal, I would say it was. I left China, starting preparations for Japan and basically I had a phone call saying that this was what was going to happen.

“I would say I was more surprised. Obviously it’s very early in the season. I was hoping to go to a track that I raced before and have a clean weekend, to have a chance like that.

“But, I mean, the decision, obviously, was made. When I was told it was tough to hear. I had one or two days to sort of think about it. And then I was in Faenza with VCARB and preparations, seat fits. And then you’re basically just focused on the job.

“I have the opportunity to still be in Formula 1 and still racing, and that is the main thing for me. And with this opportunity, I’m excited to be here. Obviously, it’s been a strong start to the season for this team, for VCARB, so I guess it’s exciting for me to now come in here in this position.”

Quizzed on whether he felt Red Bull’s decision, billed by Horner as the team’s “care of duty to protect” him, was causing more harm than good to his career and his confidence, the 23-year-old insisted he still believes in himself.

The decision though, wasn’t his to make.

“I think confidence-wise, it doesn’t change a lot,” he said. “We all have enough self-belief to be here, to make it to Formula 1 and to be in the sport. If you don’t have that self-belief, I think, yeah, it makes it very, very difficult. So I think we all have that naturally.

“It doesn’t really change how I feel about myself. I think what it’s doing for me, the best opportunity I had was with Red Bull Racing, and that’s where we’re all working towards. That’s what I was working towards since joining the junior program as a 16-year-old.

“So obviously for me, I feel like I would have liked to make that opportunity work, and that was in my best interest. But obviously the Christian and the team will have their opinions on what’s best, and that’s up to them to decide.”

As for whether he could return to Red Bull, the New Zealander said while that is “part” of the conversation, today he doesn’t know what his future holds.

“I guess that’s part of the conversation,” he said. “I guess, in a way that’s great, but obviously I was already there starting the season, and was focused on proving myself in the team at that point.

“So look, whatever happens down the line is more or less out of my control. What I can control is the driving stuff to prove that. So where the future goes, honestly at this point, I’m not really thinking about too much.

“I think we know how Formula 1 is and how quickly things change. I mean, if I look back a year ago, I had no seat. I was here a year ago, watching and wishing I was racing, then I had the opportunity to race at the end of last year, and the opportunity then to go to Red Bull Racing. So a lot has happened in 12 months.

“So for me, the main thing is being in a car. I have the opportunity to obviously prove why I belong here, and that’s what I would try and do, and that’s what I do every single time I get single time I get in the car, and that’s what I’ll be doing this weekend.

“So I think things change very, very quickly. In terms of where my future is, I don’t know and for me, the only way I can control that is by driving fast.”

He does, however, wish Red Bull had allowed him to race at the Japanese Grand Prix, given unlike Melbourne and Shanghai, it’s a circuit he knows.

“I mean it’s motorsport. We have issues, that’s part of it, especially with these cars that are pushing the limits like they are,” he said.

“I think I’d maybe hoped that that would be maybe taken into consideration more, and I think that’s why, for me it was, it was important to come to a place that I raced before and driven before.

“You know, Melbourne and China are both tough tracks. And with the way the weekends went, they weren’t the smoothest.

“So, yeah, but it’s motorsport. And as you know, as I said, the decision is, was not mine, but I’ll make the most of this one.”

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