CAN LIAM LAWSON RIDE THE RED BULL BUS
When the big blue Red Bull bus pulled up in front of Liam Lawson’s home in England last week the young Kiwi jumped aboard with the unbridled enthusiasm usually only seen in young children on Christmas morning.
After just 11 Formula One races he was catching a ride that would hopefully ferry him from mid-field mediocrity to the pointy end of the GP pecking order.
But in his rush to board it may have served him well and given him a slight pause of contemplation if he had looked under the bus.
A peek beneath would have revealed the fate of those who have come before him: peering out of the gloom he would have seen Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Nick de Vries and even our own Danny Ricciardo looking back with a silent warning.
Sergio Perez also has a new space underneath the Milton Keynes express.
As any of the discarded drivers could tell Lawson, Red Bull will happily welcome you on board but if you don’t hit the ground running then the doomsday clock will start ticking.
At just 22 years old the Kiwi native may have the F1 world at his feet, but any mis-steps aren’t well tolerated at Red Bull and the bodies it has left behind speak volumes about a team where no-one, unless your name is Max, can relax and fully trust that a contract equals job stability.
For an organisation that maintains it is a champion in fostering up-and-coming talent, Red Bull looks more like a motorsport version of The Hunger Games than a place where next-gen racers can thrive and not fight to survive.
Of course, Formula One is a cut-throat business where a driver’s on-track performance can mean tens of millions of dollars flowing into a team’s bank account. Or not . . .
Plus there’s no denying there only 20 seats (rising to 22 when Cadillac enters the fray in ‘26) and an eager armada of young talent rising through the F3 and F2 ranks who are frothing at the mouth to make it into the F1 big league.
So there is giant pressure everywhere and all the time, unless your name is Lance Stroll and daddy owns the team.
Red Bull is more ruthless than most when it comes to young drivers as Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have a history of 'Buy, try and then say goodbye'.
"Look, the danger is there’s a repeat of that,"admits Horner candidly.
"But I think that Liam is a different character. He’s a different personality to be able to deal with that pressure.
"I think he’s shown real resilience and strength of character with the opportunity that’s been provided to have to turn up and get on with it and deliver — and he’s done that."
Lawson is good, you have to be to make it into F1 in the first place, but he still has plenty to prove and he has to do it alongside a ruthless four-time world champions who is looking for a fifth in 2025.
Without even a full F1 season under his belt, he is also burdened with the belief that he will join with Verstappen to again lift Red Bull Racing to the top of the manufacturers' championship and the mega-dollars that go with it.
Horner does admit that circumstances dictated the rapid promotion of Lawson from the Racing Bulls junior team into the senior squad.
"The plan initially wasn’t for that to be accelerated for this year (but) circumstances have dictated with Checo unfortunately not having a great season — that has been accelerated," Horner says
"But we believe where Liam is on the trajectory that he’s on, that will only improve."
Still, in his six-race audition for the top job with VCARB – after replacing a down in the dumps Daniel Ricciardo – you’ve got to say that Lawson didn’t exactly set the world alight.
He was out-qualified by his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, admittedly into his fourth year with the team, six-zip. And, while Yuki scored eight championship points in those six grands prix, Lawson only managed half that.
But it’s the Kiwi newby and not the feisty little Japanese that got the keys to the bigger and grander hospitality suite at GP meetings. So, why?
Tsunoda was said to have impressed Red Bull boss Horner when he tested for the team after the season ending Abu Dhabi GP. Of course, his impressive performance was relayed to the media by, umm, Tsunoda himself.
Also against Tsunoda is that he is very much a Honda driver, a much-loved hero for Japanese carmaker, and things are changing.
Honda is moving a few doors up the street to become Aston Martin’s engine supplier in 2026 and Tsunoda is already tipped to be part of the deal.
Also, while the Japanese people are regarded as a quiet and polite breed, Tsunoda is anything but. He has, in the past, shown a penchant for losing it on the team radio during races when things aren’t going his way.
He has toned down his explosive transmissions in recent times, but he remains a little, umm, volatile.
Ultimately, Red Bull has reportedly decided Lawson – a photogenic nice guy – is THE guy and has a higher chance of rising to the F1 challenge.
Insiders say the team has been impressed by his 'mental toughness' and like that he isn’t afraid to race hard and even bang wheels with his rivals – even if it's Fernando Alonso.
The two-time champion was on the receiving end of a take-no-prisoners Lawson assault and didn’t take it well, even pondering whether he was jeopardising his future with such aggressive driving.
But now he’s in the big dog team Lawson will have to translate that aggressiveness into results - regularly.
He is likely to be whacked by Verstappen early next season as he learns to ropes, but it’s when and how he bounces back and gets the elbows out that will ultimately decide his career path at RBR.
So, will RBR take a deep breath, sit back and allow their latest young driver to hone his craft, find his feet and establish himself as a potential F1 title contender?
History would say that’s not going to happen, so Lawson will need to be covering his back the next time the Red Bull bus arrives,
