Liam Lawson makes admission over F1 grid return with Red Bull goals set

Liam Lawson said there were times when he struggled to have “complete faith” that Red Bull would put him back on the F1 grid, with “performance” now the aim of the game.

Lawson exploded onto the F1 scene in 2023 after impressing in his stint replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo, but for F1 2024, Red Bull initially chose experience by putting Ricciardo alongside Yuki Tsunoda at VCARB.

Liam Lawson had moments of ‘stress’ over F1 return chances

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

But with Ricciardo largely struggling to impress, the rumours began to build over a driver swap and indeed, Singapore proved to be Ricciardo’s final race with Lawson getting the nod to see out the season and audition for a place on the F1 2025 grid.

However, Lawson would be lying if he said there were not times where he began to “stress” a bit over whether Red Bull would give him this opportunity.

“I had faith. But obviously, it was a long time,” Lawson told the media including PlanetF1.com.

“So obviously, there’s points, and like weekend to weekend, it changes very quickly, depending on how the guys are going. So there was points where maybe I didn’t have complete faith, or I was starting to stress.

“But obviously, I wanted to trust that the team would do what they said they were doing. And in the end, that’s exactly what they did.”

Asked what the most stressful part was in those months on the sidelines, Lawson added: “There were points throughout the year, like, where it is a bit back and forth.

“I would say, honestly, earlier in the year was probably the harder points. I wasn’t really testing at all, and it was so early that the discussions weren’t so frequent. It was much more rare. That was probably a point where I was struggling a lot more.

“And then as the year went on, I started to test more. The conversation started to become, obviously, more frequent, and we were getting closer to that sort of point, that date that the team were going to tell me.

“So in that sense, it got easier, but then also it gets closer to that time and then at the same time, then it becomes stressful again. And then obviously, all the other seats are going during the year. And I’m well aware that, you know, I want to have faith that these guys are going to put me in the car, but if they don’t, for whatever reason, that all these other seats are now gone as well.”

Take a look at how the F1 2o25 and F1 2026 grids are shaping up

👉 F1 2025 driver line-up: Who is already confirmed for the 2025 grid?

👉 F1 2026 driver line-up: Lewis Hamilton and 14 other drivers already confirmed for 2026

A place in the Red Bull line-ups, either at Red Bull or VCARB, is the only realistic remaining option for Lawson when it comes to a place on the F1 2025 grid. So, what do Red Bull want to see from the Kiwi in the rest of this season to get the nod?

“Performance,” was Lawson’s clear response.

“Obviously, the only car they can directly compare me to is Yuki, so I’ll be basically benchmarked against him, like you always are against your team-mate.

“Outside of that, it’s scoring points. The team’s goal is P6 in the Championship, and we’re fighting for that. So, I guess I’m expected to help fight that Championship as well. But it’s, yeah, it’s basically performance. It’s the same as it’s always been, really.”

Lawson has scored four points in his first three races back, courtesy of P9 finishes in Austin and Brazil.

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