Max Verstappen isn’t sugar-coating Red Bull’s handling of Liam Lawson. The four-time World Champion believes the New Zealander was never given a proper shot before being bundled out of the senior team — and he’s warned that decisions like that can wreck careers.
Lawson was the bold pick for Red Bull’s 2025 line-up, promoted ahead of Yuki Tsunoda with the message from Milton Keynes that his trajectory had “more potential.” But after just two race weekends — and a trio of Q1 exits — the 23-year-old was sent back to Racing Bulls. Tsunoda returned to the top team in his place.
Verstappen made his view plain enough with a like on Instagram to a post from former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde calling the move “close to bullying.” In Japan, Max didn’t walk it back. “I liked the comment, the text, so I guess that speaks for itself, right?” he told media.
Inside Red Bull, there was no secret he wasn’t on board. Then-advisor Helmut Marko even admitted as much at the time: Max didn’t agree, but the team wanted two cars consistently up front — for the Constructors’ Championship and to support Verstappen’s march toward title number five.
The awkward truth for Red Bull is the swap didn’t transform their Sundays. Tsunoda’s return yielded 30 points across 22 weekends. Verstappen, by contrast, was on another planet with 421. And while Lawson had to metabolize the demotion and rebuild, he did. Back at Racing Bulls, he scored 38 points and banked a career-high fifth place in Baku, beating Tsunoda to the flag on a day that mattered.
Verstappen still bristles at how short the leash was. “Two races next to one teammate, I didn’t agree with that at the time,” he told Viaplay. “In the end, you ruin someone’s chances with a top team.”
He credited Lawson for not folding. “I think Lawson has recovered well. He could also have thought: ‘Never mind, the fun is gone.’ In any case, two races is far too early to make a judgment.”
There’s also the nuance of driving the car Verstappen wants. He’s been open about the fact that his teammates trying to bolt on his setup isn’t a shortcut to his speed. “They try to use my setup,” Max said. “But in the end, every driver has his own driving style. At some point, of course, you grow together, especially in the second half of the season. We often drove according to the same philosophy, but I had a little more understeer than Yuki.”
What’s next is another reset. Lawson stays put at Racing Bulls for 2026. Tsunoda becomes Red Bull’s reserve. And Verstappen will get yet another new teammate, with Isack Hadjar stepping up to join him.
It’s hard not to see the pattern. Red Bull’s conveyor belt remains relentless: identify, promote, judge quickly, move on if necessary. That approach built the Verstappen era, but it also demands a mental resilience not every young driver has on tap in March. Lawson’s case sits right on the fault line between ruthless performance management and long-term talent development — and Verstappen has made it pretty clear which side he believes Red Bull fell on.
He’s also not wrong about the collateral damage. Two Sundays is barely enough to learn how the car rotates with a full tank, never mind absorb the pressure of matching the benchmark of the generation. With hindsight, Lawson’s rebound at Racing Bulls feels less like a surprise and more like proof he needed a runway, not a one-lap shootout.
Red Bull will back their calls; they always do. The constructors’ fight demands two heavy hitters, and with Verstappen operating at such a high level, the second seat will continue to feel radioactive for anyone not named Max. The question, as 2026 creeps into view, is whether Hadjar gets the time Lawson didn’t — or whether this cycle spins again by the summer break.
Either way, Verstappen’s message has cut through the corporate noise. If you’re going to pull the trigger that fast, you’d better be certain. In this business, driver confidence is currency. Spend it carelessly, and you pay later.
