Lawson the latest victim of Red Bull's 'Verstappen curse'

Liam Lawson has become the fifth Red Bull F1 driver to suffer from the unofficial 'Max Verstappen curse' following his axe. 

To Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and Sergio Perez, Lawson's name can now be added as the Kiwi has been demoted back to Racing Bulls in place of Yuki Tsunoda who goes the other way, starting from next weekend's Japanese Grand Prix. 

The drivers in Verstappen's wake have all proven themselves to be quick, but up against the force of nature that is the Dutchman, with his unique 'on-the-nose' driving style, they have crumbled. 

Below, RacingNews365 takes a look at the fate of every driver to suffer from the 'Max Verstappen curse' at Red Bull.

Daniel Ricciardo - 2016-2018

Perhaps it was a sign of things to come, but on Verstappen's debut at the 2016 Spanish GP, he got what turned out to be the best strategy, whilst Ricciardo was hung out to dry, so to speak. 

Verstappen famously won in Barcelona, and gradually began to assert his dominance over the Australian, who was approaching a contract year in 2018. 

Doubts, though, crept into Ricciardo's mind. He was no longer 'the one' as he felt the team was gravitating towards Verstappen's side of the garage.

He was also put out by having to apologise after the 2018 Azerbaijan GP collision that was largely placed at Verstappen's door outside Red Bull, and he had serious doubts about the Honda power units Red Bull would use for 2019. 

So, he jumped ship to Renault, in what has to be one of the most catastrophic driver moves of all time as his career never recovered.

What is he doing today?

 Ricciardo returned to the Red Bull fold for 2023 as a reserve driver, and made it back to the grid with AlphaTauri in mid-2023, but was axed following the 2024 Singapore GP in favour of Lawson after failing in his self-described mission to get back to the seat he should never have left at Red Bull.

Pierre Gasly - 2019

By Horner's own admission, Gasly was promoted a year too soon from Toro Rosso, but needing a driver for 2019 after Ricciardo's defection, Gasly was called up.

Backing the RB15 rearwards into a Barcelona tyre wall during testing was an inauspicious start, and it did not get much better.

Refusing to believe he was slower than Verstappen, Gasly demanded seat changes, set-up tweaks, and he would specifically focus on one corner to address rather than try to improve all around the lap. 

Pinging a brand-new chassis in practice for the 2019 German GP did not help matters either, and after the 2019 Hungarian GP, he was dropped in favour of rookie Albon. 

What is he doing today?

Gasly won his first grand prix in 2020, driving for the rebadged second team of AlphaTauri, and was one of the drivers of the season in 2021 but a return to Red Bull was never a possibility. He left the camp at the end of 2022, signing with Alpine, where he is now team leader, driving alongside Jack Doohan.

Alex Albon - 2019-2020

Albon's Red Bull career started brightly as he roared from an engine penalty at the 2019 Belgian GP to finish fifth - and even set the exact same lap time as Verstappen in qualifying at Suzuka on his first visit to the track. 

But he, too, could simply not live with the razor-sharp driving style Red Bull was designing its cars around to bring the best out of Verstappen. He scored podiums at Mugello and in Bahrain in 2020, but with Perez on the market following Sebastian Vettel nicking his Racing Point/Aston Martin seat, a reserve driver role for 2021 was the best he could hope for.

What is he doing today?

After that year off, Albon returned to F1 with Williams in 2022 as a key part of the rebuilding project, being joined by Carlos Sainz this year in a coup for James Vowles. In two races so far, Albon has scored more points (16) than he did in the entire 2024 season (12).

Sergio Perez - 2021-2024

The longest serving team-mate Verstappen has had, Perez initially did exactly what Red Bull needed him to do, including memorably holding up Lewis Hamilton in the 2021 title finale to allow Verstappen to catch back up to the then-Mercedes driver.

Perez finished second in the 2023 standings behind runaway champion Verstappen, but had struggled badly through the year, after initially winning two of the first four races, on merit, including a fine drive in Azerbaijan.

But car developments at the Spanish GP proved to be Red Bull's undoing as Perez started to report he could not extract performance from the car. The team simply did not believe him, especially as Verstappen won 19 of 22 races that year. 

A bright reset in early 2024 was ended after he scored just 48 points in the final 18 races to cost Red Bull the constructors' with his newly-signed contract being paid up. In the end, after four years as Verstappen's team-mate, Perez was simply worn down and needed to be removed from that environment for his own sake. 

What is he doing now?

Perez is currently taking a sabbatical with his young family, having been in F1 constantly since 2011. He is open to a motorsport return, but will not make any decisions until the second-half of 2025 once he has had the chance to mentally reset.

Liam Lawson - 2025

And the shortest-serving team-mate. 

Lawson has lasted just two grand prix weekends alongside Verstappen, but that is not his fault. His mental strength was hammered as a key reason why he was given the nod over Tsunoda, but following dismal performances in Australia and China, the Red Bull bell has tolled again.

It should be noted, however, that Lawson missed FP3 in Australia due to a turbo problem, and had never driven at Albert Park or Shanghai before turning up for practice. But he failed to escape Q1 and crashed in the wet in the grand prix.

Things went from bad to worse in Shanghai, where he qualified slowest in qualifying for the sprint and grand prix. For Red Bull, enough was enough!