Verstappen's Surprising Take on Lawson's 2025 Exit from Red Bull
Dec.23 - Max Verstappen says Red Bull Racing acted too quickly in dropping Liam Lawson after just two races at the very start of the 2025 season.
"Two races for a teammate, of course, I didn't agree with that at the time," the quadruple world champion told Viaplay.
Lawson - then still a rookie - had been promoted to the senior team to replace Sergio Perez, but was quickly sent back to Racing Bulls due to the way he struggled in Australia and China.
Verstappen continued: "Because, ultimately, someone is giving up their opportunity. Then you're ruining that opportunity at a top team," he added.
"I have to say, Liam has done well at Racing Bulls. You could also say, 'Just let it go, I don't care anymore,' but two races are too soon to make a decision. In the end, Yuki (Tsunoda) got in, and that shows how difficult it was."
While Tsunoda has been dropped completely, Lawson will remain with Racing Bulls in 2026 and has welcomed the chance for a full winter build-up.
With Christian Horner and now also Dr Helmut Marko gone, Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff says Red Bull's F1 family is now well set up on the driver front.
"Two young drivers on the talent team," he said, referring to Lawson and rookie Arvid Lindblad at Racing Bulls for 2026. "Isack Hadjar gets a chance next to Max," Mintzlaf added.
"This suits Red Bull - we find the best talents for the best positions. I think overall we've done quite well at that in the last 21 years."
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Ah, the magic (or mojo) of Senna and Prost all over again. Lauda and Hunt - another classic example of rivalry. There have been some exciting rivalries over the decades - astonishing displays of how man and machine become one. It goes on to this day. And like the announcer yelled once upon a time; "ladies and gentlmen, if you don't like this, you don't like racing."
I sincerely hope the Regulators will quit with their drive to homogenize chassis and drive trains. Sigh. Open the aperture a wee bit and see how that works. So long as one rule is followed: 1. There must always be a human driver to drive the cars.