Liam Lawson makes 'to the world' claim after exorcising Red Bull demons

Liam Lawson believes the "world can now see" what he is capable of in F1 following his resurgence and climb back to Red Bull after being dropped.

The New Zealander was axed after two races of 2025, and sent back to Racing Bulls, where he has since developed into a regular points scorer and top-10 qualifier, and heading into the summer break, was the highest-placed driver in the standings not from one of the top four teams, having taken a best finish of sixth in Monaco and Britain, two of eight points finishes, plus two Sprint scores.

Lawson qualified eighth upon his return to Red Bull in place of the injured Isack Hadjar, and was just 0.115s slower than Max Verstappen, who has driven the car all season. 

It is his best Red Bull qualifying result, having been 18th and 20th in his two 2025 outings, and having been comprehensively behind Verstappen. 

However, the New Zealander was able to back up the Dutchman to secure an all-Red Bull fourth row at Zandvoort, priming him to add to his burgeoning points tally, having missed out in the Sprint, with 11th place.

Reflecting on his climb back to Red Bull, Lawson believes that the "world" can now see what he himself has always known he is capable of achieving. 

"Each lap was tricky [in Sprint Qualifying], in SQ1, we were strong; it didn't feel like I did anything special, but then I went to SQ2 and felt like I drove a better lap, but compared to everybody else, it was a lot slower, so it's something that's not super clear, but today, I think we executed well," Lawson told media, including RacingNews365.

"I honestly came to the weekend not really thinking too much about anything to do with my future and what car I'm driving at the moment. It was just a weekend for something different, a different car. Obviously, in a way, it's cool to be driving with this team again. 

"But I'm still very focused on my season, and now I've got an opportunity tomorrow to try and score points, and that's what I'm focused on doing.

"I mean, obviously for me, it's something I've always known internally [about the level I can perform at], and with different circumstances and things going differently, but obviously maybe to you guys and to the world now, you can see it as well. 

"I think last year was a season where it was obviously extremely close. "The cars were in the last year of their regulations, so they were fully developed, and there was not really much more to improve in them, and at the start of the year, overall the car was very difficult to drive.

"On top of that, Melbourne and China. I'd never been to China. It was a sprint weekend. There are plenty of things that happened over those weekends that didn't help us, honestly, and then that was it. 

"So, I mean, with more time, obviously I feel like I would have adjusted to the car and gotten used to it, but coming into this weekend, I have a lot more races in Formula 1.

"I think it's just having a bit more experience, trying to prepare for this weekend, I've been here before, and maybe just have a bit more confidence as a driver."