Getting a break in F1 — that too, with a top team — is a dream come true for any racer. But that dream can quickly turn into a nightmare as well. Just ask Liam Lawson, who’s start to his first full F1 season has been nothing short of disastrous. Lawson lost his seat at the F1 top table after just two race weekends — the quickest sacking in F1 history.
And now, if reports from Brazil are to be believed, his troubles in F1 may have just gotten worse. Which is hard to imagine, given what he has gone through already.
Despite driving for a top team like Red Bull in the first two race weekends, he got knocked out of three consecutive Q1/SQ1 qualifying sessions. After such a disappointing start, the Milton Keynes-based outfit decided to demote him to their secondary F1 team Racing Bulls, after the Chinese GP weekend.
This has already given Lawson the unwelcome record of beating Yuji Ide’s six-race sacking in 2006.
This decision from Red Bull faced immense criticism from fans and experts alike, as their rationale for promoting Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda was that the New Zealander had a higher performance ceiling for the long term. The consensus opinion was that there was no way Lawson’s long-term potential could’ve been judged after just two race weekends.
However, Red Bull’s top brass claimed that they demoted Lawson for his own good and that they wanted to protect him from facing too much criticism. Red Bull’s spin on the firing was that they intended to groom Lawson for greater things in the future, as they still see potential in the 23-year-old.
But will that actually happen? Instagram handle @f1gossippofficial has suggested that Brazilian media are discussing the possibility of Lawson getting the sack during the summer break if his performance does not improve.
“We’ve already started with gossip in the Brazilian broadcast. According to them, rumors are circulating in the paddock that if Liam doesn’t start performing immediately, he might not stay until the end of the season and might be replaced during the summer break”, their post read.
Brazilian reports claim Liam Lawson could lose his Racing Bulls drive in the summer pic.twitter.com/yYkTnovqfO
— Business F1 (@BusinessF158116) April 11, 2025
While the credibility of this report is still to be determined, it would not be a surprise if Red Bull make such a decision, considering the ruthless way they have managed their drivers in the past. They are the only team in recent times to have made multiple mid-season swaps.
Lawson needs to deliver to protect his F1 future
While F1 is a high-pressure environment for all 20 drivers, those who drive for one of the two Red Bull teams perhaps face more than the rest. Since Red Bull is the only company that has two teams in the sport — Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls — they can easily swap or drop their drivers midway through the season.
So, drivers at either of Red Bull’s teams know that if they do not perform, they can be easily swapped or even sacked altogether. Lawson faced the same pressure when he was promoted to Red Bull this season, and since he could not cope with it, they made the decision to demote him after just two races.
And with the likes of Ayumu Iwasa — who drove for Red Bull in FP1 of this weekend’s Bahrain GP — and F2 prodigy Arvid Lindblad in the wings, Lawson will not be able to rest easy at Racing Bulls either. The expectation will be that he hits the ground running with immediate effect, having driven for the team in the past two seasons.
Nevertheless, given that the Racing Bulls car has been competitive enough this season, and Lawson has driven it well in the 11 race starts he had with the Faenza outfit in 2023-24, the Kiwi driver knows how to shut down these rumors and slam his critics by exceeding Red Bull’s expectations!
