With the news F1 team Red Bull Racing has sacked its driver Liam Lawson after just two races, we’re taking a look at this development.
It’s elite sport and these snap decisions can happen, but the team’s history of doing this remains quite baffling. Not least as Lawson has barely had time to do anything and now he’s set to get the boot. Tough call.
Liam Lawson and the Curse of Being Max Verstappen’s Teammate
Above is a video from the dudes at The Race for context.
One of the things we’ve always found fascinating about F1 is the brutal world of hiring and firing in its fast-paced world. Job security isn’t a thing and team bosses, mechanics, and drivers often leap around from one team to the next.
The main thing we’ve learned in F1 is contracts mean nothing.
If a driver has a contract with a team until 2030, that means sod all. There’ll be a clause in there that means they can be ditched in one race if necessary.
Liam Lawson was signed at the end of 2024 and is already gone. He’s had two dismal weekends with the team, but it’s harsh. The expectation from the team’s boss Christian Horner was, despite his lack of experience, he showed a robust personality and a strong capacity to learn. Thus, they picked Lawson (with only 11 F1 races under his belt) over the much more experience Yuki Tsunoda.
Now, we actually sent a message into The Race about this several months ago and it got read out during a podcast. We asked if it’d work out and if Tsunoda would be in by mid-season given Lawson’s lack of experience.
It just seemed inevitably. That car with its specific driving style only Verstappen can handle, plus 11 races for one young rookie, and it was all doomed to failure.
Presumably with pressure from engine supplier Honda, Tsunoda is now in. Lawson’s been dropped back to Red Bull’s junior team Red Bull Racing and will, weirdly enough, likely have a much better weekend and beat Tsunoda at the upcoming Japanese GP.
It’s one of the most bizarre driver issues we’ve ever seen in Formula 1. And it’s all down to Max Verstappen’s genius.
The Curse of Max Verstappen’s Genius
Red Bull Racing has had this issue with its second driver for the last seven years. Ever since Daniel Ricciardo voluntarily left the team at the end of 2018, they’ve been incapable of getting a driver to support Max Verstappen’s title bids.
They wanted to keep Ricciardo as so far he’s been the only teammate who could get anywhere near Verstappen. After he left, this the driver merry-go-round that followed:
- Pierre Gasly: Struggled to perform in 2019 and was ditched after 12 races. He was placed back in RBR’s junior team Alpha Tauri and had scored a 2nd place by the end of the season (and got a win in 2020 at Monza).
- Alex Albon: Took over in mid-2019 from Gasly. Despite a strong start, he struggled and was ditched at the end of 2020 as his confidence crumbled. He had 26 races in the team.
Red Bull Racing then chose the highly experience mid-field racer Sergio Perez. That offered some stability, with four years at the team. But his form was often sporadic, masked considerably as the team had easily the best car on the grid.
He also only ever came across as a stop-gap fix for the team.
In 2024 Perez’s form was so sporadic (and often terrible), they had no option but to end his contract and bring in Lawson. The New Zealand driver is 23 and only has 11 race starts under his belt.
There are two core problems here:
- Max Verstappen is a once in a generation genius set to go down as one of the sport’s all-time greats
- Verstappen’s specific driving style has led Reb Bull to develop the car toward his unique skill set
In other words, any driver who partners him has to deal with the Red Bull’s unusual driving style. And since 2019, it’s been clear only Verstappen can deal with it.
Perez had numerous highs when driving for the team, with five wins on a few occasions outright outperforming Verstappen. But the rest of the time he was pulverised and made to look like a distinctly average F1 driver despite his 200+ race starts.
The Mexican driver is taking 2025 off and is likely to return to F1 in 2026.
Albon and Gasly have since revitalised their F1 careers, so there’s no reason why Lawson can’t do the same. Red Bull can do what it wants with its drivers, of course, and has that unique ability to do so thanks to its junior F1 team (Red Bull Racing).
The baffling, even stupid thing is why the team chose Lawson.
This outcome was inevitable. Why would an inexperienced driver with only 11 race starts be able to handle the capricious, unstable Red Bull? Sergio Perez is a great F1 driver, has over 280 races to his name, and yet his 2024 season was a total mess. Why would Lawson magically resolve that situation?
After three years at Red Bull’s junior team Tsunoda has nothing to lose at Red Bull now.
He’s been waiting for this opportunity and was calm and reflective after being snubbed at the end of 2024. Now is his chance alongside Verstappen. But given the nature of that Red Bull, you have to expect he’ll probably qualify last at his first race with the team (as Lawson did).
Other than redesigning the car for 2026 to make it more accommodating for a driver other than Verstappen, it’s a very odd situation for a multi-championship winning team to be in.
Anyway, roll on the Japanese GP.
Give it some welly, Mr. Lawson. 🇳🇿
Give it some welly, Tsunoda san. 🇯🇵
