Liam Lawson hits back at Red Bull exit reason: 'I won't accept that'

Liam Lawson has hit back at Red Bull's reasoning for demoting him after just two races in 2025, with the New Zealander insisting he will not "accept that".

Lawson was promoted to Red Bull for the 2025 F1 season to replace Sergio Perez, who had agreed to part ways with the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

It saw Lawson go up against Max Verstappen, with the Dutchman immediately asserting his dominance. However, across the two races in Australia and China, Lawson encountered several issues.

According to Lawson, the Austrian outfit opted to change his set-up dramatically for the Chinese Grand Prix and start him from the pit lane, leaving the car feeling awful.

He was ultimately demoted back to Racing Bulls, with Red Bull making the decision based on his performances and lack of form alongside Verstappen.

"The thing is, performance was then used against me, which, regardless of those two races, whatever..." Lawson told the High Performance podcast.

"In any case, two races on two tracks I'd never been to, in a season like that... I won't accept that you can judge me off that. It's such a team game. Everybody is working together, and yeah, that was obviously not how I felt when that happened."

Going straight back into the Red Bull sister team from the Japanese Grand Prix left Lawson with no time to process what had happened, something he believes he is still yet to do.

Asked how he processed the emotion behind it, Lawson explained: "Well, I... I didn't really have time, you know? I just... and I don't think I ever really did, because then I went straight into the rest of the season. 

"Then you could say, okay, maybe you get the summer break and you can look back and try to reflect on it, but honestly, by then I was just like, 'Who cares?', you know? I'd already done half a season, I was in this position, so I never really fully reflected on it or thought about it too much."