Liam Lawson entered the 2025 season as one of the most hyped rookies after delivering some impressive cameos for Racing Bulls in the past couple of seasons. However, his start to life at Red Bull this year in his first full-time season in F1 has been nothing short of a disaster.
Lawson’s debut race for Red Bull last weekend in Australia ended with a DNF and it seems that his current race weekend in China is not going much better either.
After qualifying last during the sprint shootout on Friday, he once again set the slowest lap time during Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
However, after a few disappointing sessions in his RB21, Lawson has identified where he has been lacking so far. Speaking to the media after his third consecutive Q1 exit, he broke down his issues.
“It’s just really tough, honestly. The window is small, but that’s no excuse. I need to get on top of it. It was a messy session. Had we not dealt with traffic it might have been okay but it is still not good enough,” he explained.
And despite not having luck on his side, the 23-year-old is well aware that in this sport, excuses have no place. “We should be fast enough on our first lap,” he added. “I just need to get on top of it”.
Liam Lawson: It’s just really tough, honestly. The window is small, but that’s no excuse. I need to get on top it. It was a messy session, had we not dealt with traffic it might have been okay but it is still not good enough.
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) March 22, 2025
Historically, the Red Bull cars have been tricky to drive and it has only been Max Verstappen who has been able to come to terms with them. But Lawson has begun his career at the Milton-Keynes-based team as their worst driver ever.
He is the only driver to be knocked out in Q1 for three consecutive rounds. On top of the two horrendous qualifying sessions at the Shanghai International Circuit, Lawson was also knocked out in the first qualifying session at the season-opening Australian GP last weekend.
What makes matters worse for him is the fact that Yuki Tsunoda, who was overlooked for the Red Bull seat in favor of Lawson, has out-qualified him emphatically in the slower sister RB car. Tsunoda now leads Lawson 8-0 in qualifying since Lawson’s permanent return to F1 last year (in 2023, Lawson was only a stand-in replacement for Daniel Ricciardo).
Since his permanent return to F1, Liam Lawson has been out-qualified by Yuki Tsunoda at every race pic.twitter.com/cvmScSnSFF
— Autosport (@autosport) March 22, 2025
Is Lawson at risk of losing his Red Bull seat?
Red Bull have a notorious reputation for being ruthless in the management of their drivers. The six-time Constructors’ champions have even made mid-season driver changes with the likes of Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon already having faced the brunt of their lack of patience in the past.
Following Lawson’s disappointing performances, Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko was asked if the New Zealander was going to be dropped to their sister team and if Tsunoda would finally get a promotion. The veteran Austrian was pretty direct about the chances of this happening when he said, “F1 is a competitive sport.”
Lawson, though, could still salvage his seat by delivering a solid performance during the Grand Prix on Sunday. The Sprint Race saw the 23-year-old get his elbows out to make a few daring moves over the course of the 19-lap race.
If he can repeat a similar performance in the Grand Prix — which will be three times the distance of the sprint — and climb into a good points-paying position, he may be able to appease Red Bull’s top brass for the time being.
