Liam Lawson’s time at Red Bull didn’t last long in 2025, and it quickly became clear that he was a long way off Max Verstappen in terms of understanding the car.
The team had put their faith in him to step into Sergio Perez’s role for the season, but he struggled from the start. After back-to-back Q1 exits in Australia and China, Red Bull moved him back to Racing Bulls.
It’s a familiar story by now. Every driver who has lined up alongside Verstappen at Red Bull has found it tough to keep pace, and Lawson was no exception. The data from his RB22 showed just how far off he was.
Lawson never seemed comfortable behind the wheel during his short stint. He didn’t connect with the RB22’s setup and spent most of his time near the back of the grid as a result.
Even though he praised Verstappen for trying to help him settle in, there wasn’t much anyone could do. After just two races, Red Bull made the call to send him back down to their junior outfit.
Gap to Verstappen in China highlights Lawson’s aero balance struggles
Lawson found himself consistently trailing Verstappen by half a second during their time together at Red Bull, with the Chinese Grand Prix standing out as a particularly rough weekend. Telemetry from that race revealed he was already six tenths down after just two corners.
Speaking on the lowerlaptime YouTube channel, F1 driver coach Martin Villari broke down the data: “Have a look at this, he’s not lying when he says half a second. This is them in ‘25, Max in white and Lawson in blue.
“And if we look at the delta through turn one, even over the line, he’s losing, probably the exit out of [turn] 16, he’s already down six hundredths by the time they go into turn one.”
“But anyway, as turn one unfolds, you see Max’s speed in white is much higher than Liam’s in blue. And it does materialise to be six tenths by the time they’ve gone through one and two.
Villari went on to say: “That’s very strange for me. It’s very strange to have that level of time loss through turn one. I get it because it’s a long corner. So that is possible.
“But he’s braking earlier and having to get out of the throttle earlier as well. So gets out of the throttle earlier and Max just with that downforce flies in through there.”
He added: “I always come back to line and steering wheel but in this particular case it probably is more of a lack of understanding about aero balance steering wheel tight lines what what what what kind of car is capable.”
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