Mekies casts Liam Lawson Red Bull verdict after Dutch GP return

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies spoke well of how Liam Lawson drove at the Dutch Grand Prix, on a stand-in weekend for Isack Hadjar.

Lawson received a swift re-promotion to Red Bull when news came through of a wrist injury for Hadjar, with Yuki Tsunoda having occupied Lawson’s Racing Bulls cockpit for the weekend.

Liam Lawson handed ‘good job’ verdict by Red Bull boss

The New Zealander took in a difficult two-race stint with Red Bull in early 2025, being dropped back to Racing Bulls after an initial promotion to partner Verstappen.

He received the vanishingly rare opportunity to do so again upon news of Hadjar’s injury, and matched up closely with the team’s lead driver through the weekend.

He qualified 0.115s off Verstappen’s pace in qualifying, lining up eighth on the grid and finishing in seventh at the chequered flag – scoring his first points as a Red Bull Racing driver in the process.

While Hadjar was with the team on the sidelines and may return to the cockpit for next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, Mekies highlighted Lawson‘s drive as he returned for the weekend at short notice.

“He’s done a good job stepping into the car,” Mekies said.

“It’s never easy to step into a different team, a different car for a race like that, and he’s done a good job.

“Only one tenth away from Max in qualifying, and took the points that were available to him pace-wise with the seventh place.

“We also had Isack with us this weekend, even though he couldn’t be driving. He was with the team trying to take the learning and trying to make sure we can push all together as strongly as we can next week in Monza.”

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For Lawson himself, he admitted he had been preparing as usual for a weekend with Racing Bulls before the call from Red Bull came.

While his future within the Red Bull stable is not yet certain beyond the end of the year, it is often common for the team to decide its line-ups later in a season.

“I think those talks are constant, always anyway,” Lawson said regarding his future, “but in terms of any clarity on that, no, not yet.”

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