It has been a torrid start to the 2025 season for Liam Lawson, who has failed to finish in the points and started from the pit lane twice after qualifying at the back of the grid.
Lawson showed promise in his career at Racing Bulls having contested 11 races and shown he has the mental strength to go up against Fernando Alonso.
This became a deciding factor in choosing Lawson over the experienced Yuki Tsunoda for Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, but it appears they may have promoted him too early after his struggles in China.
Red Bull’s start to the season has also been one of their toughest in recent years, with Max Verstappen only finishing as high as second place in Melbourne after struggling to match the performance of the two McLarens.
Crunch talks are set to be held over the start of their season according to Marko, with Lawson’s future also likely to be a topic of conversation. Journalist Thomas Maher has revealed when Red Bull is likely to make a decision on whether to continue with Lawson in a post on BlueSky.
Liam Lawson decision to be made before Japanese Grand Prix
F1 fans have backed Tsunoda to replace Lawson as early as the next race after a disastrous start to his 2025 campaign at Red Bull, while some believe the Japanese driver deserved the drive based on experience alone.
Red Bull will want to see if Lawson can improve in Suzuka given his prior circuit knowledge, having raced there in Super Formula in 2023. Any decision will likely be made away from the scrutiny of the Chinese GP weekend, having analysed the data on Lawson’s car.
“If any decisions are made, they’ll be made with cool and calm heads away from the immediate aftermath of this weekend,” wrote Maher.
“Expectation is no decisions will be made until race week for Suzuka.”
Ralf Schumacher believes Liam Lawson will be sent back to Racing Bulls to ‘rebuild’
Bernie Collins believes Red Bull should have given Lawson more time in a previous car to acclimatise himself, before taking on the tricky RB21.
Speaking on Sky Sports Germany, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher believes a decision has already been made regarding Lawson.
“There is a report from F1-Insider and I also checked it, Lawson is already out of the Red Bull seat for the next race (Suzuka) and Tsunoda will replace him. That’s not quite confirmed yet, but that’s apparently the case,” said Schumacher.
He would go on to add during the coverage on Sky Sports Germany: “Lawson is going back to the Racing Bulls, to rebuild himself there.”
Red Bull has admitted their car is hard to drive before and largely built around Verstappen, so any driver that comes in will need to adapt to his driving style.
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