Liam Lawson reflects on Red Bull demotion and says return to Racing Bulls boosted confidence

His efforts were soon rewarded. Lawson scored a career-best P5 finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after qualifying third on the grid in Baku, showing clear signs of progress.

Lawson spoke about how returning to Racing Bulls early in the season gave him the space he needed to reset and focus on long-term improvements rather than immediate results.

He told RacingNews365: “I mean, that I’ll never know, to be honest. I can obviously look back on the year, and I think we’ve definitely found a lot of progress through the year [and] found a lot of things that have helped us.”

“I can confidently say I’m in a much more comfortable position now than I was, especially when I first made the switch earlier in the season. Obviously, you’re just playing catch-up and as the season went on, I got a lot more comfortable. So, I think so.”

Liam Lawson still has work to do if he’s to keep his place with Racing Bulls

Lawson didn’t open his account until round six, when he picked up a P8 finish in Monaco. He sacrificed his own race that day to help teammate Isack Hadjar secure P6, showing once again that Racing Bulls’ strategy had a role in his early points tally.

Despite showing some improvement since then, with finishes of P7 in Austria and P5 in Azerbaijan, there are still questions about whether he’s done enough this season. With F1 making changes to driver eligibility rules and new names like Kimi Antonelli entering the frame, the competition for seats is only getting tougher.

There are even whispers that Mick Schumacher could be eyeing Lawson’s seat at Racing Bulls after making progress with Alpine. Although nothing is confirmed yet, it serves as a reminder of just how fragile life on the F1 grid can be.

Even though Hadjar is expected to take over Tsunoda’s seat at Red Bull in 2026, the rookie from France only leads Lawson by nine points this season. Still, it’s Tsunoda who’s seen as the favourite to land the second Racing Bulls seat for 2026, with Arvid Lindblad likely coming in as his teammate.

Both Lawson and Tsunoda are without contracts after this season, and Red Bull hasn’t made a final decision on who will partner Lindblad next year. The remaining races in Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi could end up being crucial in that call.