Formula 1: New threat emerges for Liam Lawson’s Red Bull future after Miami – Alex Powell

After five weeks off, this wasn’t the Formula One resumption Liam Lawson needed.

A stewards’ stuff-up in sprint qualifying, a power failure and then a crash in the grand prix made this a weekend to forget for the Kiwi in Miami.

Lawson has accepted responsibility for the incident that also ended the race for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, after losing control of his gearbox at turn 17.

What’s more, both Red Bull teams had weekends to forget, with only one driver out of four finishing in the points.

Here’s what we learned in Miami.

History repeats

Mark Twain once wrote that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes”.

Miami proved to be just that for Lawson. In 2025, the Kiwi was stripped of seventh place in the sprint, before being taken out by the Alpine of Australian driver Jack Doohan on the opening lap and eventually retired on the 37th.

This time around, Lawson was hindered by stewards missing a track limits infringement in sprint qualifying and power woes in the sprint race, before his collision with Frenchman Gasly in the grand prix.

These things do happen in motorsport, but Lawson will be within his rights to feel aggrieved this time around.

He had quietly worked his way into a share of some good points at the start of the race, even if he was battling Gasly for 10th at the time of the collision.

However, Racing Bulls have emerged from the five-week break as one of the teams on the back foot, after others improved behind them.

Now, with another three weeks before returning in Canada, the team have plenty of work to do if they’re to continue to hit the same heights they did in China and Japan.

A new threat?

Away from what happened with Gasly, Lawson has another reason to look over his shoulder.

Red Bull’s continual conveyor belt of talent appears to have another driver waiting in the wings in the lower categories.

Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov has started the Formula Two season as arguably the standout driver, winning the feature race in Melbourne and the sprint in Miami to top the standings after two rounds.

The 19-year-old is the only driver in Formula Two currently backed by Red Bull, giving himself a clear runway for promotion as and when the time comes.

That, then, would put Lawson in the gun. Having already been tried by Red Bull’s senior team, Lawson would – in theory – loom as the most vulnerable driver across their two teams if change was wanted.

France’s Isack Hadjar is just four race weekends into his stint as a Red Bull driver, while Racing Bulls’ British youngster Arvid Lindblad is clearly being groomed as one for the future.

That’s not even counting Dutch great Max Verstappen, who will have a Red Bull contract as long as he wants it, even if that’s a different story altogether.

Is there any immediate threat for Lawson? Definitely not. His successes at Racing Bulls this season have come through the team’s stability under Alan Permane and Peter Bayer.

But if a line has been drawn through the Kiwi’s name after his brief spell at Red Bull last year, his longer-term outlook isn’t as secure as his stablemate.

The likeliest solution would be to have all drivers finish the season where they are, with Tsolov to be promoted into being Red Bull and Racing Bulls’ reserve driver next year – especially if he wins Formula Two.

He would take the place of Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda and Ayumu Iwasa – both still in the team after Honda’s exit last year.

After that, though, Tsolov would be there to remind all Red Bull drivers that there are always junior drivers ready to step up to replace them.

The curse continues

It was joked that Hadjar being promoted from Racing Bulls to Red Bull at the end of last year was more of a demotion.

But despite his impressive start to the year in Melbourne qualifying, it looks like Hadjar could be starting to feel the heat that’s seen him instilled as Verstappen’s seventh teammate at Red Bull.

Lawson, Gasly, Tsunoda, Sergio Perez and Alex Albon were all given the axe by Red Bull, after failing to hit the same heights Verstappen did on his way to four world championships. Daniel Ricciardo left of his own accord.

And while it was hoped that the dramatic change of regulations would be kinder to Hadjar than they had been to his predecessors, Miami was the first sign that he could well follow suit.

In sprint qualifying, Hadjar’s time was 0.961s slower than his teammate. For the grand prix, he was 1.367s off Verstappen’s pace.

Not helping on that front either, Hadjar was the first driver to crash out of the grand prix after hitting the wall at the chicane.

It’s no secret that Red Bull have previously designed cars to compliment Verstappen’s driving style, but this is now a pattern.

Before the 2025 season, former Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko set a target for Lawson to be within 0.3s of Verstappen.

With a different management structure in place to the one that saw Lawson given up on too quickly, Hadjar won’t suffer the same fate any time soon.

But while it’s just one race, there are worrying signs for the other side of the Red Bull garage.

Racing Bulls’ reliability, regulation struggles

For all the benefits the new regulations were supposed to bring to Formula One, Racing Bulls do appear to have suffered more than most.

In Melbourne, Lawson’s battery didn’t fire on the start line. In China, Lindblad had mechanical issues that robbed him of vital practice time.

And while there were no issues to speak of in Japan, the return in Miami saw Lawson with no power in the sprint race, while Lindblad didn’t even reach the start line.

To cap it off, Lawson’s crash was down to a gearbox failure, leaving him powerless to avoid Gasly as they both entered turn 17.

While all teams barring Mercedes seem to have battled issues this year in one form or another, it’s not entirely surprising that Racing Bulls’ problems are happening.

But when drivers’ careers could be at stake for issues completely out of their control – as what happened to New Zealander Brendon Hartley in 2018 – you’d think fixing these problems should be item No 1 on Racing Bulls’ agenda.

Will the real Max Verstappen please stand up?

It’s hard to know exactly where the four-time world champion stands at the moment.

He’s been more than vocal of his distaste for the new regulations, along with stating he’d be more than happy to walk away.

As previously reported by the Herald, the Dutchman’s exit clause is believed to give him an out at Red Bull, if he sits outside the top two at the summer break.

But in Miami, we saw the Verstappen of old. In qualifying, he was denied pole by just 0.166s to start second on the grid, behind eventual winner Kimi Antonelli.

And while any chance of a win was scuppered by a first-lap spin before driving home fifth, we did see Verstappen get his elbows out with a number of drivers, including Lawson.

Only Verstappen himself could tell you how involved he wants to be in the sport going forward.

Just three drivers – Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Juan Manuel Fangio – have won more titles than him. What’s more, at 28, there’s plenty of time for him to keep winning too.

The most pressing question from here, then, is if Verstappen is prepared to walk away, or stick it out and find performances like he did this past weekend.

Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.