Liam Lawson believes his impressive return to Red Bull at Zandvoort has offered proof that his disastrous two-race spell with the team in 2025 could have unfolded very differently under other circumstances. Recalled to replace the injured Isack Hadjar, the New Zealander reached Q3 for the first time as a Red Bull driver and finished qualifying just over a tenth of a second behind Max Verstappen.
Eighteen months after a painful two-race stint with Red Bull, fate has handed Liam Lawson an unexpected second chance. At the Dutch Grand Prix, he completed the circle with a strong top-10 qualifying performance and now has the opportunity to fight for points in the race.
Liam Lawson gets his Red Bull redemption at Zandvoort
The result carries a certain irony. Driving a car that is far from being in a position to dominate races this season, Liam Lawson performed considerably better than he did during his previous Red Bull opportunity in 2025, when he failed even to progress beyond Q1.
More significantly, his deficit to Max Verstappen at Zandvoort fell within precisely the kind of margin that might have helped him retain the seat last season. Lawson’s comeback came after Isack Hadjar was ruled out of the Dutch Grand Prix with a wrist injury, forcing Red Bull to reshuffle its driver line-up.
Choosing Liam Lawson rather than Arvid Lindblad to replace Hadjar appeared logical given the New Zealander’s greater Formula 1 experience. For Lawson, however, there is clearly more at stake than simply filling in for one weekend. Nobody expected him to suddenly produce an extraordinary performance, but with the RB22 proving very different from the demanding RB21 he drove in 2025, this weekend represents a genuine opportunity for redemption.
“It was very demanding trying to build everything up in such a short amount of time, but the goal was to keep improving throughout the weekend. Everyone did a good job helping me feel as comfortable as possible in the car. I feel like I extracted pretty much everything I had,” Liam Lawson said after qualifying.
His achievement is even more notable because Lawson had completed only one day in the simulator with the RB22 before taking to the track, having received the call-up only at the beginning of the week.
Why Lawson’s 2026 Red Bull return feels completely different
The picture could hardly be more different from his first Red Bull appearance at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, when he qualified 18th, followed by 20th the next week in China.
Much has changed since then. It had already become apparent last season that the version of Liam Lawson seen at Red Bull was a shadow of the driver who had impressed at Racing Bulls and earned his promotion in the first place. At the same time, the enormous difference in performance cannot be attributed to one factor alone.
The circumstances surrounding his 2025 and 2026 opportunities could scarcely be more different. At the beginning of last season, Lawson never found confidence in the difficult RB21, a car that demanded drivers operate extremely close to its limit to extract lap time. He was also facing circuits where he lacked experience, with several factors combining to create a downward spiral that became increasingly difficult to escape.
“Last year everything was extremely tight because the cars were in the final year of the regulations, so they were completely developed. In general, the car was very difficult to drive and, on top of that, I had never been to Melbourne or Singapore. China was a Sprint weekend, there were a lot of things that didn’t help us and then it was over.”
New F1 regulations give Lawson a more manageable Red Bull
The regulatory change ultimately provided a reset in two respects. Red Bull’s new-generation car is less on a knife-edge than the RB21, which was quick but notoriously difficult to drive at the limit.
At the same time, the characteristics of Formula 1 cars have changed. Lawson believes the machines of the new technical era provide drivers with clearer feedback and more scope to adjust their driving compared with the ground-effect cars.
“The best way to describe it is that, outside of the power unit, every single thing feels different. The steering feel compared with the movement of the car, the balance through corners, obviously the high-speed grip – everything is different.”
“It’s about throwing the car into a corner while knowing and feeling what it’s going to do. Last year the car was so much on the limit, at least at the beginning, that if you weren’t exactly on that limit you lost a huge amount of time. This year there are many more factors.”
The challenge has come during a particularly significant 2026 Dutch Grand Prix weekend at Zandvoort, where qualifying remains particularly important because of the circuit’s limited overtaking opportunities.
Lawson says greater F1 experience has transformed him
The car is not the only thing that has changed. The Liam Lawson who arrived at Zandvoort in 2026 is also a more experienced driver than the one who faced the enormous pressure of joining Red Bull at the start of 2025.
Now 24, and with another season and a half of Formula 1 experience behind him, Lawson feels better prepared. His time back at Racing Bulls has helped him develop into a more complete driver, while his performances this season have also strengthened his reputation.
“I’ve learned a lot, personally as well. Last year I obviously thought I had more time in the car, so I was more or less adapting to everything Max had on his car. With more time, I think I would have adapted to the car.”
“But coming into this weekend, I have many more Formula 1 races behind me. On top of that, I simply have a little more experience in preparing for a weekend.”
Lawson is also returning alongside a driver who remains the ultimate Red Bull benchmark. Max Verstappen qualified only just ahead of him at Zandvoort, during a weekend in which the four-time champion has also paid tribute to the home supporters at his final Zandvoort Grand Prix.
‘Now you can see it too’ – Lawson makes pointed Red Bull claim
One point Liam Lawson consistently made after his difficult 2025 Red Bull spell was that confidence had been the central problem. He maintained that what he needed most was additional time in the car, rather than viewing those two weekends as a definitive measure of his ability.
Zandvoort has now given him an opportunity to demonstrate that argument on track.
“It’s fantastic. It’s something I’ve always known: with different circumstances, things would have gone differently. But maybe for you and for the world, now you can see it too.”
One qualifying session cannot rewrite everything that happened in 2025, but Lawson’s first Q3 for Red Bull has at least given him the kind of performance he never had the opportunity to produce during his original stint. With Max Verstappen only just ahead, the New Zealander now has the chance to turn that qualifying result into an equally convincing race performance.
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