Liam Lawson’s highs and lows of a dramatic 2025 Formula 1 season
Tuesday, 23 December 2025
Liam Lawson blasting through the streets of London in a classic Ford Capri really does feel like a lifetime ago.
Yet that glitzy Red Bull promotional video only saw the light of day at Formula 1’s season launch at the O2 Arena in February.
In just 10 months, Lawson has packed enough controversy, drama, success and failure into his first full F1 year to have his own season of Drive to Survive.
Despite having only 11 grand prix starts to his name over two seasons at the energy drinks manufacturer's junior team, Lawson was hyped into the limelight as Max Verstappen’s teammate last December.
However, that lasted just two weekends - after an under-prepared off-season, while Red Bull dealt with the Christian Horner scandal - when the Kiwi was unceremoniously dumped back to Racing Bulls after the Chinese Grand Prix.
As it transpires, the demotion quickly became more like a move in the other direction and the sideways shift almost undoubtedly saved his career.
The 23-year-old Kiwi’s 22 weekends back with Racing Bulls produced 38 points scored across seven races. There were points left out there and, of his four DNFs, only one, the Canadian Grand Prix was a mechanical. He crashed out in Melbourne in the wet and the other three, Miami, Silverstone and Mexico, all came via collisions in the opening laps.
A horror start in Melbourne
Kiwi fans flocked to Albert Park with their hopes up in the sky at the start of Lawson’s Red Bull era, but the Australian Grand Prix was more dark clouds than blue skies for him and the fans braving the elements.
Here was a New Zealander in a competitive team, a driver who many thought could challenge for the country’s first F1 race win since Denny Hulme’s 1974 Argentine Grand Prix victory.
But that’s not how it worked out. After being miles off the pace in the first two practices, a power unit issue restricted Lawson to just two laps in the final practice before he qualified 18th after a pair of mistakes.
After starting in the pit lane, Lawson crashed out when he was left out in the rain on slicks in a desperate roll of the dice from Red Bull that came up snake eyes.
Best performance
Austria, Monaco and São Paulo are worthy nominations, but Lawson’s best in Baku is impossible to ignore. Statistically, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was his finest weekend with a career-best fifth-place finish following on from another high-water mark when qualifying third.
Lawson beat home eventual world champion Lando Norris, who was seventh.
The Kiwi driver was 11th quickest in Q1, seventh in Q2 and then third behind Verstappen and Sainz in the final session.
Worst performance
More than a few candidates here. Melbourne was a massive disappointment and Abu Dhabi was a horrible way to finish. Singapore is another obvious option, as was Miami; however, it’s impossible not to go past the train wreck that was China.
A weekend that ultimately ended Lawson’s tenure as Verstappen’s teammate.
Just like the previous week in Melbourne, Lawson was off the pace in practice. He then qualified last for the sprint race before finishing in 14th. However, he only beat home the Haas pairing of rookie Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon, Gabriel Bortoleto, who was in his second ever race, Jack Doohan, who was hit by a 10-second time penalty, Nico Hulkenberg, who started from the pit lane and Carlos Sainz, who was the only car in the race to pit.
Qualifying again ended in the Kiwi being the slowest driver in the field and although he finished 12th on paper, the result was far worse, having been 16th across the line.
The Ferrari pairing of Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Alpine's Pierre Gasly were disqualified for technical infringements and Doohan was again bumped down by a 10-second time penalty.
Lawson beat home the Sauber pairing of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg, who both went off on the opening lap, Yuki Tsunoda, who was forced to stop again late to repair front wing damage and Fernando Alonso, who failed to finish.
The Singapore smash fest
Lawson crashed twice in separate practices at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The damage and the lack of laps were a hindrance and the Racing Bulls driver eventually qualified 14th but was promoted to 12th when the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz were disqualified for technical infringements.
He eventually battled home in 15th after yet another strategy gamble from Racing Bulls failed to come off.
The one that got away
This one isn’t even close and it was an absolute heartbreaker. Lawson and Sainz were dicing for seventh and eighth early in the Dutch Grand Prix when they touched, and both suffered punctures.
The way things transpired, if Lawson had managed to remain in front of Sainz, he would have likely finished fifth and banked 10 critical points.
Stewards issued Sainz with a 10-second penalty but Williams later took a right of review and the penalty was later wiped.
The Wacky Races
OK, so there might not have been a Dick Dastardly or Penelope Pitstop in sight, but Monaco and Mexico definitely meet the threshold for wacky encounters.
For some bizarre reason, there were two close calls with marshals and cars in F1 this season and both involved the No. 30 car of Lawson.
Firstly, a marshal ran across in front of his Racing Bull in the Monaco pit lane and then came an even more peculiar incident in Mexico.
Lawson was involved in a turn one tussle with his old nemesis Carlos Sainz, at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which resulted in damage and an early stop.
When he came out of the pits, two marshals had entered the track to pick up the debris from his incident with Saniz. The pair went running off the track when they saw Lawson approaching and made it safely out of the way, but only just. It was a close call that should never have been allowed to have happened.
Is another bizarre twist; there was a third brush with a marshal in Las Vegas, but thankfully, the third such incident was nothing like the near misses of Monaco or Mexico.
Parliamentary privileges
Well, not quite, but Lawson was nicknamed the Ministry of Defence of New Zealand by his race engineer, Ernesto Desiderio, following a standout drive in the São Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil.
Lawson completed a marathon 52-lap stint on his medium tyres to execute a one-stop strategy and hold off a train of seven cars, led by Hadjar, who were all within four seconds of his Racing Bull.
“Oh my god. That is (a) masterclass. Mate, I'm so happy. That's it, Ministry of Defence of New Zealand – Liam Lawson,” Desiderio said.