By James Broughton, March 24, 2025
For Red Bull, Liam Lawson was meant to be the chosen one—the one who would bring an end to the cycle of drivers being put through the meat grinder, otherwise known as being Max Verstappen’s teammate. Lawson, who hails from New Zealand, is already a seasoned single-seater racer, having competed in junior kart racing championships and worked his way up through the junior open-wheel formulas. He is a race and championship winner, having secured the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship and the Toyota Racing Series.
His success in Japan caught the attention of Red Bull, who signed him to the Red Bull Junior Team in 2019. By 2022, he was made a Red Bull reserve driver and soon made his F1 debut with a free practice session for AlphaTauri. Lawson came off the reserve driver shelf in 2023 and made his full race debut for AlphaTauri at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, replacing an injured Daniel Ricciardo.
Lawson covered for Ricciardo for four races, scoring points at the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix—a feat Ricciardo never managed. By 2024, Ricciardo was given his marching orders by Red Bull, and Lawson was promoted to a full-time drive. However, he was consistently outperformed by teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
It’s All in the Data
Despite Tsunoda showing more speed and consistency, rumors circulated that Lawson would replace the underperforming Sergio Perez at Red Bull. At the season-ending tire test, Red Bull pitted Lawson and Tsunoda against the clock. Lawson was convincing enough behind the wheel to justify his promotion to Red Bull’s vacant second seat. But no times were released—no data.
The only feedback that was made public was that Tsunoda was too emotional, and his radio outbursts caused concern. This was an extremely odd way to select one driver over the other, considering that most F1 drivers are emotional and prone to angry outbursts during intense moments in a Grand Prix.
Two races into his Red Bull Racing career, Lawson has delivered underwhelming performances, and Red Bull is reportedly considering axing him ASAP. Ironically, Christian Horner revealed that the team would look at the data to decide what to do next with Liam Lawson. What a slap-in-the-face comment that is.
Red Bull had the data on Liam Lawson for 12 races last year, including testing data. They could clearly see Tsunoda was outperforming Lawson, yet they overlooked Tsunoda to team up with Verstappen because they were concerned about hurt feelings over a potential Tsunoda radio outburst?
If this isn’t an example of white privilege, then I don’t know what is.
