Liam Lawson delivers Red Bull return verdict

Liam Lawson has stated his return to Red Bull was “tough”, but expressed satisfaction in being able to get performance out of his car.

Lawson was called up to replace Isack Hadjar at the Milton Keynes-based squad at the Dutch Grand Prix after the Frenchman suffered a wrist injury during the summer break.

It marked Lawson's second opportunity at Red Bull following his disappointing two-race stint at the start of 2025.

At Zandvoort, he qualified in eighth place and climbed to seventh during the race, gaining a position following an opening lap crash for team-mate Max Verstappen.

Lawson admitted that in race trim, the Red Bull challenger simply didn't have the pace to match rival cars.

“I'm sure there are things that I can do better in the race,” Lawson told media including RacingNews365. “I'll try and reflect on it. 

“But in terms of positions, I don't think we had the speed to match the guys in front. 

“We knew that after [qualifying] as well. Qualifying was, for both of us, behind them.”

Lawson had just one practice session to get up to speed on Friday before being thrown into competitive sessions due to the sprint format.

Having shown impressive pace compared to Verstappen throughout, Lawson concluded that it was a positive event for him.

“But it's been a good weekend,” he said. “It was good to extract everything out of quali yesterday. 

“It's been tough to try and get my head around this car in a short space of time, but I've enjoyed it.”