After the unequivocal failures of Sergio Pérez from the previous season, the team Red Bull, he came across the possibility of replacing the Mexican driver and among the possible candidates, the promotion went to Liam Lawson. But was this just another careless mistake by Red Bull?
Lawson's Previous Seasons
In both previous seasons, 2023 and 2024, Lawson stepped in to replace Daniel Ricciardo and in 2023 in Alpha tauri, due to an injury to the Australian driver. Returned at the end of the 2024 season, in the now renamed Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, Lawson remained in the back row. Despite not completing a full season in either case, Lawson was able to demonstrate his value on several occasions, obtaining better results than his teammate Yuki tsunoda.
Implying that with a more performing car he could have also sat at the table of the “large”, Red Bull did not let the opportunity slip away. In one of its very first races of 2023, in Singapore Grand Prix, in fact Liam Lawson even managed to eliminate the three-time world champion in Q2 Max Verstappen who is his teammate today.
Perez's Farewell and Lawson's Promotion
For these and many other reasons, which we may never know, when it came time to find a replacement for Pérez, Lawson seemed to the team to be the most valid option. Thus, in December 2024, just a few days after the news of Pérez's dismissal, Liam Lawson was promoted to Red Bull. To many, it seemed like a lack of meritocracy at the expense of his former Japanese teammate, a regular in the team. junior Red Bull for years.
Yet another Red Bull mistake?
As the first Grand Prix of this year approaches, has Red Bull's decision really turned out to be the right one? The data collected in Lawson's very first performances at the wheel of a Red Bull car would seem to shake the Team Principal's convictions Christian horner. The results obtained by the young New Zealander, up to now over the weekend, do not seem to be exactly what was expected. In fact, it comes out sixteenth in FP1, seventeenth in FP2, twentieth in FP3a eighteenth starting grid position achieved in qualifications.
It would seem that a real feat would be necessary, the day after the race, to be able to revive a weekend spent entirely at the back of the grid. Will he succeed? Liam Lawson. since Australian Grand Prix to prove that he deserves the promotion he was given? Or will we see him in a blue overall for a little longer before Christian horner will he retrace his steps?
