Liam Lawson grilled on Red Bull ‘tension’ over Christian Horner sack
Liam Lawson had a brief spell with Red Bull at the start of F1 2025
Liam Lawson says he was not “really aware” of any tension between Christian Horner and others at Red Bull Racing during his brief stint with the team at the start of F1 2025.
And he has called for Horner’s replacement Laurent Mekies to be “trusted to do the job he’s very good at doing” at Red Bull’s senior team.
Liam Lawson reacts to Christian Horner’s surprise Red Bull exit
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Horner was sacked by Red Bull Racing after more than 20 years in charge following the British Grand Prix earlier this month, with Racing Bulls boss Laurent Mekies promoted as his successor.
This weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa will make Red Bull’s first race without Horner since the team arrived on the grid in 2005, with Racing Bulls also entering a new era under the leadership of Alan Permane.
Horner’s departure came after more than a year of simmering tensions between the 51-year-old and other elements of the Red Bull senior team.
Liam Lawson vs Isack Hadjar: Racing Bulls head-to-head scores for F1 2025
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Jos Verstappen, the father of Red Bull driver and reigning four-time World Champion Max Verstappen, famously called for Horner to resign from his position in the aftermath of the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, warning the team would “explode” if he remained in place.
In the aftermath of Horner’s departure, Martin Brundle claimed that Verstappen’s entourage played a “key role” in the dismissal of the long-serving team boss.
Lawson spent two races as Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate at the start of the F1 2025 season before being replaced by Yuki Tsunoda ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com on Thursday at Spa, Lawson insisted that he did not notice any tension between Horner and other senior figures during his short stint with Red Bull Racing.
He said: “No, I don’t think so. It’s not something [I noticed].
“If I was trying to be very aware of everybody’s position, then maybe I would figure something out.
“But I had so much to think about myself that I only know what the decisions [were] with what happened with me and I made that very clear to everybody how I felt about that.
“Anything else regarding Red Bull’s relationship I wasn’t a part of and wasn’t really aware.”
Asked how Horner’s departure will change things at Red Bull, he said: “Honestly, at this point it’s hard to say.
“I think, for the team, having somebody like Laurent coming in is great.
“Laurent is somebody who’s done amazing things for our team and he’s somebody I’ve really enjoyed working with.
“I think he brings a lot with him to Red Bull Racing.
“It doesn’t change too much for me. Obviously, as a driver we have enough to think about.
“Especially this year, I think it’s been a very busy year for me, so at this point things have been pretty good for us recently.
“I think the car has been performing well and our speed’s been good, so we’re just focused on repeating that.
“I think the changes don’t really do much. They don’t change too much.”
Lawson went on to call for Mekies, who previously held senior positions at Ferrari and motorsport’s governing body the FIA, to be “trusted” and given time in his new role.
Asked if Mekies’ engineering background and leadership style is exactly what Red Bull needs after losing its way technically over the last 18 months, he said: “It’s very hard to say.
“I just know that he’s going to do a very, very good job regardless, so I think it’s hard to say what the team needs.
“Probably some consistency, but I just know that he’ll do a good job in his position.
“I hope he’s trusted to do the job that he’s very good at doing.
“I was at Red Bull for two races, so I didn’t really work much with Red Bull.
“It’s hard to say in two races, honestly. I’ve spent most of my time working with Laurent.”
More on Liam Lawson and Racing Bulls from PlanetF1.com
Lawson is convinced that the Racing Bulls team has not “lost anything” as a result of Mekies’ promotion with Permane, who joined the team in 2024 after a long stint with the Alpine squad, more than capable of stepping into the team principal’s role.
He said: “I think for sure just having [Mekies’] presence has been very, very nice, but obviously he’s still well within the Red Bull family.
“And for Alan, he’s somebody who’s obviously been in the team now for a couple of years and somebody that I think is very well suited for this position and has relationships with everybody and is very motivated as well to carry on Laurent’s form with what he was doing.
“We’re all very excited for that.
“I don’t think we’ve lost anything with regards to Alan filling his position, but I think something that Laurent has been very, very good at is leading the team, having everybody around him and I guess having the motivation and the work ethic very high in the team.
“He was very, very good for that. Worked very, very hard.
“I think every single race weekend he’s here on a Thursday, probably one of the first guys to arrive normally, I guess, to show sort of everybody in the team that it’s very important.”
Lawson revealed that he found out about Horner’s dismissal via news reports, with the announcement coming as a shock.
He said: “Probably same as everybody else: in the media.
“I don’t remember when it was announced, but I found out basically afterwards.
“Yes [I was surprised]. I would say it wasn’t something we expected, but things obviously change in Formula 1.
“I think, for me, yes it was surprising having these changes, but it doesn’t really change too much from my point of view of what I’m trying to achieve and what I’m working on.”
Asked if he has spoken to Horner since the news, he added: “Yeah, just over text briefly.”
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