Liam Lawson and his “brothers”: all of Red Bull’s driver swaps, the list keeps growing. From the Red Bull Junior Team to failure at Milton Keynes. All the cases preceding Lawson’s.

Golden eras, but not only
Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen: these are the two drivers nurtured by the Red Bull Junior Team under Helmut Marko who have led the Anglo-Austrian team to the pinnacle of Formula 1. With four world titles each, both (and their respective teammates, especially in Vettel’s case) have also contributed to six Constructors’ Championships, achieving great personal milestones and absolute records. These two drivers began their journeys in the junior program before making their F1 debuts with Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls, and still Red Bull’s junior team) and then making the final leap to the “senior team.” These gradual steps rewarded Milton Keynes with the management of both the German and the Dutchman, following a very strict policy that, however, also “burned” numerous careers, as demonstrated by the latest case of Liam Lawson.

The first swaps and successful moves
After acquiring Jaguar, Red Bull’s F1 journey began in 2005, the same year in which the first in-season driver change took place: while David Coulthard continued his season, Christian Klien was temporarily replaced as a full-time driver by Vitantonio Liuzzi, who also came from the RBJT (Red Bull Junior Team). However, after just four races, the Italian returned to his role as the third driver, with Klien being reinstated alongside David Coulthard. The two shared the garage again in 2006 until Klien was dropped for good and replaced with three races remaining by Dutchman Robert Doornbos (also from RBJT), who was not retained for 2007. The period of “incorrect promotions” at Red Bull came to a halt between 2009 and 2014, following Coulthard’s retirement. Mark Webber was first paired with the promising Sebastian Vettel (who arrived from Toro Rosso) and later, after Webber’s departure, Vettel was teamed up with Daniel Ricciardo, following his fellow Australian’s promotion.

Swaps with Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo retained his Red Bull seat in 2015, but after Vettel’s move to Ferrari, Red Bull promoted another driver from its junior ranks, straight from Toro Rosso: Daniil Kvyat. The team failed to secure any wins, but the RBJT did make a bold move by bringing a teenager directly from European F3—Max Verstappen. It was the Dutchman who, after Kvyat’s unimpressive start in 2016, replaced the Russian just four races into the season and immediately won on his Red Bull debut in Spain.

After Ricciardo’s controversial departure at the end of 2018, Marko once again turned to Toro Rosso, signing Pierre Gasly. However, early in 2019, the Frenchman failed to meet expectations, leading Marko to another mid-season driver swap: Alexander Albon was promoted to Red Bull while Gasly was sent back to Toro Rosso. The Anglo-Thai driver remained for 2020, but yet another change came in 2021, with Sergio Perez becoming Verstappen’s new teammate. The Mexican has stayed with Red Bull until last season, which was marked by a slump in performance during the second half of the championship. This led Marko to bring in Liam Lawson, who raced just eleven times between 2023 and 2024 with Racing Bulls.

This move proved to be a complete failure, as shown by his two races finishing at the back of the grid and outside the points, prompting yet another Racing Bulls-Red Bull swap: starting from the next Japanese GP, Yuki Tsunoda will take over the RB21.

Not just Red Bull
This promotion-and-demotion system, often occurring mid-season, has not only taken place at Milton Keynes but also frequently at Faenza, within the team now known as Racing Bulls. Several junior drivers had only brief F1 stints, including Scott Speed, Sébastien Bourdais, Jaime Alguersuari, and Brendon Hartley.

This is just within F1, without counting the many young talents from lower categories who have been part of or are still in the RBJT program. In total, more than 80 drivers have gone through Red Bull’s ranks.