The Red Bull Reject Who’s Silently Beating the Odds

Liam Lawson’s turning things around…but the F1 fans don’t seem to care.

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Liam Lawson’s journey back to the Formula 1 spotlight is rewriting his reputation but the racing world has barely noticed. After a tough spell at Red Bull and a return to the junior ranks, Lawson has clawed his way into the conversation by consistently scoring points for Racing Bulls, keeping the team within the midfield battle for P6 alongside Sauber and Aston Martin. A breakthrough with new front suspension and stronger support from team principal Alan Permane have helped Lawson find his rhythm…and it could help Red Bull Racing out and their quest to keep Max Verstappen.

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The Red Bull Reject Who’s Silently Beating the Odds

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It really surprises me that this has gone unnoticed. Or is that by design? Because Liam Lawson’s just about to overtake his teammate and nobody seems to care. I understand if he might be dubious about this considering that I, like others, had been critical of Lawson during his Red Bull tenure and then sending back to the junior team, but equally, it’s important to be congratulatory when things are going right. And I think it’s quite safe to say that in the last few races, it has definitely been going right for Lean Lawson. Three visits to the top 10 in four races. He’s sitting pretty with 20 points to his name. He’s got the same amount of points as Pierre Gassley, and no one’s questioning about his future in Formula 1. He has now, at least on two occasions, been the leading Red Bull guy in terms of point scoring. And yet, I am struggling to see many people talking about this. It’s kind of a similar situation to where Gabrielle Bortalto has been for the longest time. And it’s only now that people are starting to look at what the Brazilians been doing the last few races and be going, “Oh, that kid’s kind of fast.” Definitely the hallmarks of the backto-back junior champion. But that’s for another video. I definitely want to make that. So, do subscribe for when that drops a follow-up video on Gardi. But in the case of Liam, who has equally had a very compelling turnaround in the last few races, it feels like the narrative fuel which really burnt brightly at the beginning of the season in regards to his potential downfall and expulsion from the Red Bull project is running on empty. It’s not the right kind of fuel for people to be sapping on. What? Liam having actually a good run of performance. Boring. We don’t care. all amidst of him basically having an oon run of rubbing popular drivers up the wrong way at the worst possible moment at the beginning of their careers and that in turn leaving a very indelible mark that is going to be non impossible in trying to completely purge from anyone’s collective memory and then to top it all off he gets his big break at the top team and then gets sent right back down to the junior team again in just two Grand Prix even shorter than what was afforded Pierre Gassley so yes in some people’s minds Who cares about what happens to Liam Lawson? Well, I care because I also want to put him on a pedestal when he’s actually been doing really, really well. It’s only fair. The drama isn’t over, people, and neither is Liam Lawson. It’s Lawson’s run of points that has kept Racing Bulls competitive amidst Aston Martin and Sala gobbling up points in the middle phase of the season. Racing Bulls would be contesting with H for ninth place in the constructors. So, what is the cause of this sudden uptick? Well, Alan Perain, the new team principal of racing balls because Lauren Mecky’s has gone up to the senior team might have given us a very, very big clue. Well, no, actually an exact explanation. A breakthrough that is not too dissimilar to what Lando Norris has been experiencing over at McLaren when new components regarding suspension ended up on his wagon, which clicked better with the Brit. In Liam’s case, the team boss’s words are right here for your consideration. e him. He won’t thank me for saying this, but he definitely was a bit downbeat. He didn’t have a spring in his step, and we’ve done what we can to help him there. To jump in our car straight away without having it tested, it was of course not easy. He’s up against Isaac, who has been outstanding this year. The first race for him was Japan, and Isaac was absolutely flying there. So, it was a tough introduction for him, but we’ve made some changes. Liam and his engineering team have worked really, really hard. We had a bit of a breakthrough in Austria. We had a new front suspension for him which they developed through the simulator and he really liked it was really enthusiastic about it and it worked there. We saw last week in Spar again that he is performing. Monaco was a decent race for him but after Austria he had a spring back in his step. Oh yes Alan, he did have a spring back in his step because suspension. I see what you did there. Very very funny lad. the team’s actually invested in him and now Liam is thriving and it doesn’t really matter what helmet Marco goes and says. In fact, he might actually end up being on side. But then again, I think Helmet’s main priority for this year and next year is to try and keep Max sweet. So, he might suddenly go easy on all the Red Bull Junior drivers thankfully because she didn’t get the vibe that they were actually going to be looking after Liam’s best interest next to Max Sap. And helmet was basically saying before the season started you just get there sit down be quiet and oh they are 3/10 behind next at all times or else at Racing Balls it’s not been tough at all. They’re all about Isaac and Liam and they were all about Isaac and Yuki because it’s a championship to fight for them. You kind of need true drivers working at their best which is why I think in the long run will be a breath of fresh air for Red Bull Racing. You’re already seeing that in Max’s demeanor. Sure, it’s not angry or aggressive as the British media might expect and Vstappen’s got a plan in motion, knuckling down. Lawson doing the same thing, and it’s resulted in him once again leading the Red Bull quartet home. There is definitely something to think about in what’s happening with Liam Lawson at Racing Balls and something which I do not need the foam nor the spanner for. It might provide us a clue as to what Red Bull Racing’s new workflow could possibly be with Lorson being right at the center of it. that we could see them turning things around, listening to the drivers much more often and providing them particular upgrades for their own particular car instead of what we saw for the longest time where Pierre Vash and his crew would be getting tunnel vision in providing a car which only works for Max and that the second driver had really no hope in trying to grasp us optimally and trying to lift the drivers up on their own instead of succumbing to what we saw under Her’s watch where he would be reing in the pantomime villain which then in turn would make everyone else within his organization turn out to be the villains. Have you thought about that for a second here? Yeah, Christian Horn, he likes being all a pantomime baddy about a Toto Wolf. I’m pretty sure there are other people at that team, Christian, who do not share that same opinion. And I’m pretty sure they are thanking their lucky stars that Laurel Mecky’s is a lot more analytical, mechanical, and keen to just get his head down and change the fudging car. Because I think Mecky’s and Perain over at Racing Balls has deduced that the way of managing a team is a lot different to what it was back in the 2000s and 2010s, especially with social media being a thing because that was not around in the zenith of Christian her performance before the 2020s. You have to be thinking about what’s being said online, what’s being said by content creators like myself on the daily. people watching the race, casting winners and losers, who’s a donkey, who isn’t, and it’s all said immediately and then it disseminates amongst the public. And look, I understand, I get it. Formula 1 is the top of the single steer food chain where you do need to be the best of the best. But equally, it is a team sport and the team needs to be fully aware about what can be said online and how to protect their drivers. And that might include making sure that your colony and the speeds in which your drivers actually partake in racing are suited to them absolutely superbly instead of just doing a cure all that hopefully may work and therefore they’re not able to run at an optimum pace and that affects your own bottom line in terms of prize money in the constructors because there’s only so much adapting you can do before you die. How much longer, for example, can Pierre Gastley or Franco Colipinto tolerate a team in which the efforts on track are completely undone, losing dozens of seconds in the pit lane? What’s the point of even getting out there? And don’t worry, I’m tying this back to Racing Balls because, as we saw last year, their pit lane shenanigans often undermined Yuki and Daniel’s efforts. Fortunately, it has improved this year. Fame’s first priority was just that in his quote, he’s speaking openly about lifting Lawson’s morale, making sure he felt valued inside the garage. Something that I’ve been saying time and time again on this channel. You can go back through my old content to prove it. That you need to feel wanted to get the best out of you. Something that we’ve seen with Oscar Pastri over at McLaren. And look where he is right now. And in the midst of this, Liam’s done his best to try and maintain his composure. Him insisting regularly that his demotion from Red Bull Racing did not knock his confidence. But then Perain goes on to admit that saying, “Yeah, it did knock his confidence. you know, he was a shadow of his former self after what we saw at Racing Bulls and Alpha Tower the couple of years previously because the move left him under even more scrutiny and out of rhythm. So for Liam to say that his confidence wasn’t knocked at all would be, you know, a little bit of damage limitation on his part. But fortunately, you can say that yes, he is confident again, as is his teammate, and that Racing Balls’s main job at that time is to circle around him and figure out something in trying to get his confidence right back up there again. And therefore that reset, that rejigging of Lawson’s confidence, it started to bear fruit around Monaco. And that was right at the peak of Hajar’s talents with him getting a really solid finish. And yes, Liam did have to play the team game and be the roadblock of the Monaco 2025 Grand Prix, but he did get some reward from it with his own PA finish, getting off the markers and leaving Fernando Alonzo without any points to his name at the time. And now look where we are at the summer break. He’s got 20 of them. seven points off Estban AON in 10th place in the championship and there’s very much likely a possibility he can have a case to be up in that top 10 or at least very very close. He’s not going to be near the bottom. And speaking of Isaac, it’s not like Isaac and he have got some sort of major rivalry in Monaco. Isaac was extremely grateful for Lawson’s aptitude and application of his talent and his position within the top 10. And it’s quite easy to see that on social media those two get along just fine. They don’t want to see Red Bull Racing struggling in the midfield after all of the years they saw where they were the class act of the field and thinking we were just born too late, weren’t we? They want this team to improve. They’re going to do everything to play nice, at least for the time being, at least until the championship is at play. Because yes, Hajar’s been a great colleague for Liam, and I’m pretty sure that Max would have been a good colleague for Liam as well. At not one point did Max say Liam absolutely sucks. But in any case, what I’m seeing with Lawson right now could be a plan that may be used for other drivers, including Yuki, including Max, and maybe Isaac if he feels like he needs it or if he is already getting it. Is a driver focused, targeted plan around a general template, not just blanket improvements to just simply add more downforce. If tweaks can benefit one driver in reaching their full potential, then it in turn takes pressure off the other driver to deliver, and then that manifests solidity in the face of trouble. Can you see how that all builds upon itself? The team’s not showing favoritism. It’s just lightening the load for both of them. And I do get the feeling, and okay, I may need the foam of doubt with this one because it’s not entirely certain, that Red Bull Racing, the entire Red Bull Racing Group will ideally like to maintain both lineups for 2026 for the sake of consistency and to make sure they can actually get off on an even keel in this new era of Red Bull where they are partnering up with Ford. And hey, if the partnership turns out to be just as good as that interview that Chris Harris undertook with the Stapen where they were driving a Ford Mustang GTD, then I think they’ll be absolutely fine because that’s the only bit of social media engagement I think Max has genuinely 100% enjoyed. But this could be at the detriment of Arvid Limblad. I do see him maybe getting another season in F2. And that maybe his acceleration that we all thought that might have happened this year was at the behest of her because it might make the British fans like him again because Arvid will be the first British driver for Red Bull since David Kulthard and also maybe have their own Anteneelli Prodigal son. Yeah, about that. Now, what we’ve seen with Kimmy Anteneelli having a really, really, really tough European leg of the Formula 1 season, maybe fasttracking a very interesting and very talented young driver might not be the best of ideas. Yes, Kimmy Antonelli has been able to score for the first time since Canada, but it does go to show that maybe it might not be wise just putting in a young driver just in the hopes that you can repeat another Max for Stappen. Max is a very unique case. So it does make me think that maybe for 2026 Red Bull might keep Arvid Limblad within Formula 2 to have another full season in which he can easily contest for the championship and to build on the experiences of this year because I think it’s gotten to the point now where Limblad is in the championship where he is not going to be contesting for the title. nor is he am I going to be thinking near the top three. And in fact, Limblad, I think, has been joking that he’s going to the stewards so often that it’s almost like they’re on first name turns or something. And that’s usually an indicator that he’s a bit of a diamond in the rough. He does need a little bit more polishing before he’s ready for prime time. We will be seeing Arvid in Formula 1, I’m pretty sure, but I think it’s going to be for 2027. With Hner’s removal, it certainly changed the run plan for the entire racing operation. And whilst it might not guarantee Lawson a long career or Limblad next year, it certainly removed a significant barrier for the Kiwi and given its advocates louder voices. Same goes for Cenod alongside Vstappen. And if Liam keeps beating Hajar or at least rising to the occasion should Isaac falter, then I think Lawson could find himself locked in within the operation for a while, especially should Max decide enough is enough and call time when there’s time with the team. But don’t worry, I’m not going to be talking about will Max stay or will Max go in 2027. That’s not the point of discussion for this video. The point is is about whether or not Liam Lawson can establish himself within the Red Bull operation for long enough to be able to weather the racing bulls phase and maybe get an opportunity. And that maybe thankfully Liam’s future is determined with race pace instead of internal politics. Internal politics now I think is at the bottom of Red Bull’s to-do list. That is not what they’re trying to do right now. They’re trying to improve the car on a mechanical capacity. That is music to Liam’s ears and I’m pretty sure to anyone else within the Red Bull Junior team. It’s certainly a healthier position that Liam is in right now than he was just a couple of months ago. And again, I think Liam’s future could easily be locked in if what’s been happening with him and improving his lot is able to be translated to the top team. Yes, Red Bull do own two teams in some capacity and it is a bit of a hot button topic which may be closed down in the future, but for right now it’s still a legal means. They are following the rules from F1 and the FIA and hopefully this transition of mechy’s to the top team might yield benefits for both parties. We’ll probably see stuff happening at the senior team that’s been happening at the junior team and with Alan Perman insisting that things will remain the same within Racing Balls, things that he’s been clued up with thanks to Mecky’s. I do think that both teams future will be really good in the long term because I’m pretty sure that in Milton Kees what’s happening with Liam, it’s certainly gotten their attention. But yes, I can already sense that some of you are heading for your spanner of speculation here and are thinking, “Well, wait a minute. Isn’t what’s happening with Liam the exact same thing that’s been happening with Max? That the team’s been focusing on one driver at the expense of the other.” Well, I don’t think it’s that case anymore. And it’s something that I picked up from a Sky Sports interview that they did with Charl recently where he was talking about, oh, is the team going one direction or the other? And then just saying, well, no, not really. We’re at a time now in Formula 1 where you can actually appease both drivers and it’s not impacting one or the other. So maybe that’s the same thing that we’re seeing maybe at Red Ball that maybe we can see that Yuki and Max are developing the car that means that they are can be both satisfied. And maybe with Isaac and Liam that’s the same thing that you can have targeted upgrades which can benefit both drivers and therefore reduce the responsibility which means they can just focus on their own lot instead of propping up for the other guy. And I’m starting to see Laura Mecky’s get to grips with what he’s got to do and that maybe it’s not just a question of balance anymore because according to formula.hu mechis reveals frustration of foot but also a possible diagnosis. Missing tire temperature and therefore corner speed. Racing balls with Liam, they found the fix as I’ve been talking about rethinking the suspension. That seems to be the problem. The RB21 lacks mechanical grip and of course having a narrow operating window. But it does seem quite clear that tweaking the suspension for Leon has increased the operating window, which means that he can score on the bounce. And it’ll be really interesting to see what happens after the summer shutdown, which to me still sounds like a wrestling event. Summer shutdown. And then in Zanva, it’ll be a real big acid test where tire warm up will be key. Has there been some sort of process they’ve learned from Hungary which can then be implemented for the Dutch Grand Prix where maybe Maxstaffin could get back into the top five again? because any step forward there will be extremely obvious and a real indicator as to what happens for the rest of the season. But even in just two races, I am extremely happy with what I’ve been seeing from Mechis and Red Bull Racing. They are far more analytical and far less sensational, not lashing out at other teams. You even get Zack Brown saying, “I like Laurel. I think Red Bull’s in a much better position now.” And maybe it might mean he’ll stop digging at them because I’m pretty sure that’s been a very annoying thing in the back of many Red Bull employees mind. Because I’m pretty sure if Christian her was still around and what happened between Max and Lewis around turn four still went down under his watch, oh, he’d be complaining saying, “Nah, Lewis was trying to take Max out, even though Max himself said it was a complete non-event and Lewis completely forgot it even happened.” But in terms of watch and whatnot, I’m not expecting Red Bull to be dedicating much more time to the RB21, save for maybe some tweaks in terms of procedure and maybe targeted areas of the suspension and maybe the relationship with the tires. The RB21 is going to transform itself, I think, into a mule car to try and cure the processes in time for the RB22. If they can score some good points or maybe a cheeky podium for both drivers, then fantastic. If they don’t, fine. They’ll just have to sit down, go through the data, and then go from there. We might see a couple of more minor upgrades, but they will be ones that we cannot see. There’s not going to be some sort of big high downforce package like we saw in Hungary last year where it looks completely different. The RB20 was in that case. It’s going to be stuff that will not be visible to the naked eye. And that in turn can easily improve Liam Lawson’s lot in terms of public possession and social media because I do think he will score some more points this year. Will he score more points consistently every single weekend? Well, considering how to topsyturvy the midfield has been and that even Alpine in stone cold last has 20 points to their name, it can easily change from race to race. Williams are now looking in danger of losing fifth place. Aston Martin are suddenly back in the hunt even though they have absolutely no clue as to why they were so good around Hungary. But I think amidst all of this, Liam Lawson has now had his faith restored in Formula 1 and that maybe he has a chance for survival after all instead of having absolutely no chance and just waiting out the clock, awaiting the inevitable after Abu Dhabi and then that’s his game done. And that confidence will then fire up Isaac and then he will start to get points again. And then the two of them can start to chip away with double point finishes. They’ll feed off of each other’s success because they are in that rebuilding phase which will then mean they are motivated. And as far as Red Bull is concerned right now, that is best. So why aren’t more people talking about this regarding Liam? Well, okay, to be fair, right now it is a very very populated world in terms of Formula 1 news and discussions and again with Bortalto having a bit of an uptick that certainly not helped. But nevertheless, Boralto is Brazilian and his rise to prominence is a real big indicator there could be a renaissance with Brazilian drivers because having Brazilian drivers in Formula 1, it just feels right, you know, and that thing with national flags is very important with Liam because New Zealand’s flag, it doesn’t carry nearly as much weight as Brazil’s. Even though it was nice to see a couple of headlines where Liam Lawson scored backto back points for his country and it meant that for the first time in over a half a century since the days of Denny Holm, they were able to get that sort of accolade. The last time it happened was 1974. That’s a good headline to be attached to Liam. But it brings me back to a tweet that Martin Brundle composed back when the Red Bull catastrophe was occurring where Liam’s career he said have been temporarily trashed. Note the word temporarily. And the only way that’s going to change if he gets on the podium or something like that or has a battle with multiple world champions, which is not only clean, but also legit. And look what goes and happens around Hungary. He has a battle with Max Stappen. He keeps it position. He relegates Max Stappen to P9 legitimately on softer tires. May I add, Max, that is a huge achievement and a huge confidence booster. That is definitely going to help his case, but I think it is just peacemeal stuff. It’s bit here, a bit there. It will come good near the end of the season when everyone’s going to be making their reports about who won and who lost the 2025 season. It’s certainly going to mean that Lawson has a good chance of not being dubbed a loser because I do think he’ll be around next year at this rate. And based on the poll I made yesterday, the vast majority of you do reflect that. But there are still going to be people who will be doubting him, getting their own phones out and saying, “Nah, nah, nah. Liam’s not good enough. He needs to be out right now.” No, I don’t think so. So, I wish to just use what I got online to just highlight to you all that Liam has really improved so far this season. And now we’re heading to 10 rounds to go. I think it’s only going to continue. Now, I don’t expect he’s going to be scoring in every single race from now on, but we are going to be heading toward Grand Prix in which he has raced before. So, that is going to be very, very important because he debuted at the Dutch Grand Prix with very little practice in the rain, torrential rain. He didn’t bin it. He got 13 and then he outqualified Maxappen at Singapore. He then got P9 and that was a huge achievement at the time. So maybe going forward we might see more and more solid performances compounding on that suspension tweak that Perman and his team discovered. They are focused on improving Liam to keep him around for the long term because what would be the point of going to all that effort, time, money, resources in improving Liam’s lot and then going say, “Yeah, thanks Liam for your trouble. get out. No, they’re not they’re not going to be doing that. They’re going to be investing for him being around next year and Isaac being around next year possibly to make the VCarb03 something which is even more optimized for them. And maybe what has happened with Liam this year and Racing Bulls trying their best to bring him back up to temperature to get him back on his feet might help Red Bull Racing get back on their feet and might convince Max Vstappen to remain within the organization for 2027 and 2028. after that, who knows? But I do think that Mercedes might have missed their biggest opportunity because Max does believe in the team game. And whilst that team game is continuing with Red Bull getting his head down, Mercedes are the ones left stirring the media pot. And to find out why I think Toto is the one left holding the bag of drama at the moment, watch this video next, straight after this one.