Liam Lawson was both destroyed and saved by one drastic Red Bull decision

In late 2024, Red Bull pulled the plug on a dramatic period for Sergio Perez, abruptly ending his tenure as team-mate to Max Verstappen, despite the 35-year-old being under contract.

The Mexican driver had scored almost no points in the second half of the campaign, resulting in Red Bull finishing only third in the F1 constructors' championship. Verstappen, on the other hand, won the driver's title with two rounds to spare.

Liam Lawson was chosen as Perez's successor soon after. Despite only racing in F1 for two short stints across 2023 and last year, the New Zealander had left an impression on the Milton Keynes-based squad.

Now-departed team principal Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, as a result, viewed Lawson to have greater potential than Yuki Tsunoda. The theory was that as Lawson was already matching the 25-year-old, he would only get better.

However, he immediately struggled inside the cockpit of the troublesome RB21; a Q1 elimination during qualifying for the season-opening proceeded a race-ending crash in the Melbourne rain.

Although it is perhaps harsh to blame Lawson, who was kept out on slicks as conditions at Albert Park worsened in the vain hope of scoring points.

Nonetheless, the lack of pace the 23-year-old exhibited across the weekend was a cause for concern at the six-time constructors' champions.

The biggest disaster, however, lay in wait. The following week, at the Chinese Grand Prix, Lawson found himself rooted to the foot of the field, in both sprint and full qualifying.

After a second consecutive pointless round, the team took the bull by the horns and demoted Lawson back to Racing Bulls, with Tsunoda parachuted in to replace him.

It was a drastic measure and a widely criticised decision, one with major consequences, both positive and negative.

A brutal lesson

Upon his return to Racing Bulls, Lawson looked stricken and out of sorts. Whilst new team-mate Isack Hadjar regularly reached Q3 and scored points, he struggled to find his footing.

A doomsday scenario started to emerge for Lawson, who suddenly faced the prospect of losing his seat, a looming threat worsened by the highly-touted Arvid Lindblad knocking on the door. 2025 began looking so rosy for Lawson, but it quickly descended into a nightmare.

Red Bull can be blamed for demoralising and demolishing Lawson in the way in which it did. After all, he was not the first team-mate of Verstappen to struggle with the idiosyncrasies of the team's car.

Lawson also recently told RacingNews365 in an exclusive interview that certain decisions made by Red Bull at the time were ultimately used against him.

"In China, we took a shot in the dark with the set-up to try and learn something," he said. "For me, I was under the understanding it was to help me develop for the future, to have an understanding of the car.

"So I was happy to drive with this sort of set-up. That performance was then used to demote me from the team, basically...

"If I knew I was going to get two races, I would have probably done things slightly differently. But I didn't at the time. I was maybe a bit naive, but I thought I was going to get longer and have time to learn."

However, recent evidence suggests that Red Bull's decisive action may have been a saving grace for Lawson.

That in no way negates the reckless and ruthless approach the team took towards the young driver, but as Lawson becomes more and more comfortable in the VCARB 02, he has been able to tap into a rich vein of form and is again looking like the driver Red Bull sought to promote in the first place.

He's more than had the measure of Hadjar of late, both over one lap in qualifying and in race trim.

Lawson has scored points in three of the past four rounds, including a career-best sixth-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix, allowing him to close to within two points of the Frenchman in the drivers' standings.

A silver lining

All in all, Lawson's swift demotion has ensured him a second chance and time to get things back on track. After his rapid rise, his even more drastic fall can only be described as a demolition - but it is also a blessing in disguise. 

It has afforded him the opportunity to become a more complete driver, one hardened by the nasty experience he endured and survived.

Whether that will be enough to drive for Red Bull again in the future remains to be seen. For now, Lawson may be satisfied merely to have a seat in F1 at all come 2026.

If the team does indeed promote Lindblad, with Hadjar also impressing, Lawson may find his route back to Milton Keynes blocked off.

But even if that eventuality does come to pass, he has gained important experience through the process.

And if Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon have shown anything, it is that there is life in F1 after Red Bull. Perhaps a similar fate awaits Lawson.