Liam Lawson reveals focus as Red Bull return question raised

Liam Lawson insists he is not thinking about returning to Red Bull at the moment, despite the uptick in his recent performance.

The New Zealander heads into the F1 summer break in strong form after scoring points in three of the past four rounds.

Beginning the year alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull, the 23-year-old endured a torrid start and was promptly demoted back to its second team after just two rounds, with Yuki Tsunoda parachuted in to replace him.

Since then, it has taken Lawson time to become reacclimatised with his surroundings at the Faenza-based squad and reaccustomed to its car.

Initially overshadowed by rookie team-mate Isack Hadjar, Lawson is starting to replicate the form that saw him chosen over Tsunoda in the first place.

The 14 points he has scored since, including his career-best finish of sixth place in the Austrian Grand Prix, have allowed Lawson to pull to within two points of Hadjar, who has not finished in the top 10 of a grand prix since the annual trip to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at the start of June.

Unsurprisingly, with Tsunoda out of contract at the end of the year - along with both Racing Bulls drivers - questions are starting to be asked about how Red Bull's driver line-up could look in 2026.

New team principal Laurent Mekies has worked closely with all three potential Verstappen team-mates, but Lawson's purple patch of form has triggered suggestions he could be the one to join the Dutchman for the start of F1's new regulations cycle.

"Honestly, in terms of my future, it’s been so busy this year that I’m not really thinking about it," he told the media, including RacingNews365, when the possibility of a Milton Keynes return was put to him.

"I’m focused on having some good races."

Lawson is adamant that a few strong performances are not enough to vault him back into the seat he lost at the start of the campaign, which is why his focus is on replicating those results more consistently.

"Obviously, we’ve had some recently, but three of them isn’t enough over 12 races, or however many it’s been, so we need to do more of this, and then we’ll see," he added.