"Nothing changed": Liam Lawson comes clean on his Red Bull demotion

Liam Lawson has shared his take on his brutal 2025 demotion from Red Bull to the junior team, Racing Bulls. Lawson was promoted ahead of the start of the ongoing campaign, only to get dropped just after the first two races.

In his maiden outing as a Red Bull driver at the Australian Grand Prix, Liam Lawson found it extremely hard to match or even get anywhere close to teammate Max Verstappen in terms of performance. In the main Grand Prix, while the latter secured a second-place finish, Lawson came away with a disappointing DNF.

The downward trend continued at Round 2, the Chinese Grand Prix, and this acted as the final nail in Lawson's coffin before his demotion to Racing Bulls ahead of Round 3.

In line with his tumultuous stint with the Milton Keynes-based team, he said the following via F1:

"I think I would say one thing to be clear about is that between the first couple of races, to the team switch, then going to Japan, mentally for me nothing changed. It’s been very heavily speculated that my confidence took a hit and stuff like this, which is completely false."

"From the start of the year, I felt the same as I always have. I think in two races, on tracks I’d never been to, it’s not really enough for my confidence… maybe six months into a season, if I’m still at that level, if the results are still like that, then I’d be feeling something."

Liam Lawson's place on the Red Bull Formula 1 team has been taken by Yuki Tsunoda. However, just like Lawson, the Japanese driver has also struggled to put in decent performances in the RB21.

Liam Lawson secured an impressive P6 in Austrian GP

The 2025 Formula 1 season is 12 rounds down, and there are 12 more left on the race calendar. Liam Lawson scored his best career finish at the Austrian Grand Prix with a P6.

During the fiercely contested race, Lawson and Racing Bulls did everything right for the former to cross the chequered flag in sixth place. In line with this performance, Lawson has recently added:

"Why Austria was a great weekend was obviously just to have that breakthrough of points, and I guess probably show a little bit of what’s been building for a while, but also what needs to be coming more frequently."

Liam Lawson currently does not have a contract for the 2026 Formula 1 season. Keeping this in view, all the events from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards will be important for him. Moreover, his F1 future could also be decided by what happens within the senior team.

Max Verstappen has been rumoured to be potentially leaving Red Bull for Mercedes in 2026, and Yuki Tsunoda's future is also up in the air. Some clarity around the Racing Bulls and Red Bull drivers could be expected during the upcoming summer break.