What Went Wrong For Liam Lawson In F1?

So a couple of videos ago, we talked about the next generation of F1 drivers and how good the sport will be in the coming years, thanks to them. We talked about Kimi's brilliance when it comes to just winning like a machine. We talked about Oli's greatness when it comes to most factors that make a great driver. We talked about Gebbi's class when it comes to playing the long game, same with Isak. We talked about Limblad's adaptability in Oskar's wheel-to-wheel game. They are so good and the drivers will only continue to get better from here. But someone that not arguably, but absolutely should have been up there in the convos with them is Liam Lawson. I do not exaggerate when I say this either because watching him throughout the Junior Formulas, it seemed pretty inevitable that he was going to be big and a name to remember for many, many years. I mean, think about it like this. Red Bull poured in so many resources into Liam that was comparable to the resources poured into Max. Red Bull believed that he was going to be one to remember and treasured for their future. But you look at their attitude towards him now and what the hell happened, guys? Hell, look at everyone's attitude toward him now because he's not even a what could have been case. People genuinely believe he is one of the worst on the grid right now and shouldn't be on it. And I find this weird since go back to 2023 and people were saying that Liam was one of the names to remember after his couple of races for AlphaTauri. And to add on to that, in 2024 when Riccardo was given the hand on the shoulder, everyone said Liam was the obvious choice and was going to be much better than Daniel. But now people would rather have Daniel in that car over Liam. Okay, so what? Liam probably sucked ass in the cars he has been given, and all the talent he once had has been completely washed away. No, I mean, yeah, and Red Bull, sure, he sucked major ass. But in actual racing cars and not the abominations Red Bull have, Liam has performed fine. But even then, to the Liam truthers, he could have been doing so much better. So what the **** is going on, guys? The haters are wrong saying Liam is doing much worse than he is. The truthers are wrong saying Liam is doing much better than he is. Why is he so damn confusing? Let us go find out what went wrong for Liam in F1 after a seemingly brilliant junior career, and also see if it is over for Liam in F1 soon. Subscribe if you are new, if you like kiwis, and let's get to quacking now. A good weather for a race, but especially for a duck. So like always in these driver profile videos, we got a look at the junior career, and looking at Liam's career, and bro, he has the sauce. All current and future F1 drivers of course start in karts, and Liam's karting record was mighty impressive. He first started racing in 2011, and he had an immediate understanding of how to be fast. This helped him get very high results in the many championships he partook in, finally getting his first series win in 2012. And from this point forwards to about 2015, he showed massive brilliance. He would win the titles in most series he competed in, and if not, he would still finish in the top 3 positions anyways, and this naturally gathered many eyes onto him. However, unfortunately for him, they wouldn't be super massive F1 eyes for the simple fact, well, he's in New Zealand. Naturally, drivers from uncommon countries such as New Zealand do find it harder to get scouted early into F1 junior academies, or just get plain connections. Good thing however, that Liam is very talented, and talent always wins in the end, mostly. In 2015, Liam first made the jump to karts from karts, and in his first ever championship, the Formula 1st Manfield Winter Series, Liam would finish 2nd overall in the standings, and I wish I could tell you more since well, have you ever heard of the Formula 1st Manfield Winter Series? It don't even got a Wikipedia page, so we'll just have to trust this was an impressive 2nd place finish. Which I think it was, since in his 3rd ever championship in karts, the Formula 4 New Zealand Championship, Liam would win the entire damn thing for his first Formula title win. Things now do look great for the Kiwi, since from there to 2018, he would just continue impressing. A 2nd place title finish in Australian F4, another 2nd in the ADAC F4 Championship, decent results in the F3 Asian Championship, he was quickly rising through the ranks, which caught the singular eye of Helmut Marko. For 2019, Liam Lawson would be signed on as a Red Bull Junior driver, and subsequently, had his best ever year in karts. This period is when I first heard the name Liam Lawson, and started watching his game, and boy did he have game. His only blemish this year would be in the biggest series he competed in, F3, where he finished a low 11th place, but it is important to note that he got the short end of the stick when it came to reliability, and mechachrome, so he couldn't really flex all his muscles that he had. But even then, he was still responsible for MP Motorsport's only podium in the season, and did have the occasional brilliant drive. Anyways, the real shining stuff this year came from both the Euro Formula Open, and the Toyota Racing Series. In the Euro Formula Open Championship, he did not win the title, not even close, which was won by Marino Sato, but he still had some standout performances, winning all the races that Sato couldn't. And in the Toyota Racing Series, he did win the title, beating Marcus Armstrong by 10 points. In both series, he demonstrated some elite pace and overtaking game that for sure made him a prospect to watch. And this one would continue into 2020, since that would be a much better year statistically for Liam. For starters, Liam moved to high-tech GP for 2020 in F3, and this move proved very fruitful since now, he finished fifth in the standings, taking multiple wins in an ultra-competitive grid. He also again competed in the Toyota Racing Series, where he did lose out the title this time, but only slightly. These performances saw him make the jump to F2 in 2021, but also somewhere else, somewhere you may not have expected. Red Bull, who wanted to branch out more in motorsports, started meddling into some DTM, which is a sports car series. And Red Bull, needing some drivers, hired Alex Albon, who raced in the AlphaTauri colors, and Liam Lawson over other juniors, and he would race in the main Red Bull colors. I see the symbolism, Marco, don't even worry. And in both series, Liam did really good. I mean, in F2, he did finish ninth overall in the season. However, he had the worst luck imaginable. He won the first race and got another podium in round one, and then constantly had some bullshit happen to him by other drivers, or good old Mechacrom. Still good, but I need something more, Mr. Lawson. Enter DTM. Turns out, Red Bull's decision to put Liam in DTM paid the hell off, since he was doing so good there. I actually sat down to watch DTM back in 2021. You know how much of a psychopath he had to be to do that? Alex Albon was doing pretty solid in the other car. He had a couple of podiums, even won a race. However, Liam was on a tear. It was victory after victory, podium after podium, and as we headed into the final round, there was a chance he could win the title as a rookie. Of course, there was a chance he could lose the title, but as long as drivers keep it calm and don't send very stupid and very unreasonable dive bombs from miles back, Liam was going to win the title in DTM as a junior. Well, the setup wasn't for nothing, right? Liam, of course, got crashed out in the race in a very late move by Maximilian Gutz, but maybe Gutz would get penalized. I mean, come on. However, he wasn't. The move wasn't penalized, and Gutz was allowed to keep the win, stealing the title away from Liam, which promoted him to saying he is never returning to DTM. Maybe an excessive crash out, but perhaps understandable. 2022 only saw Liam focusing on F2, where he locked in and finished in third behind poor Sharon Drugovich, and Red Bull seeing enough were like, you're done. Liam would become the third driver for both Red Bull teams in F1, and for 2023, just so he wasn't bored all the time, was able to race in Super Formula, where again, he was fantastic. He finished second in the standings behind Ritomo Miyata, who both gave us great racing action. Liam was very likely to continue racing in other branches of motorsport Red Bull had a hand in. However, speaking of hand, Daniel Ricciardo, who was just rehired to replace Nick DeVries, broke his hand at Zandvoort, and who was there on the premises, thankfully? Liam Lawson. For the next five rounds, while Danny Rick recovered, Liam would be given the keys to an F1 car next to Yuki, and if this wasn't the ultimate proving ground for him, I don't know what is. So how does Zandvoort 2023 go for Liam? Well, considering God was hung over the night before and was pissing it down on the racetrack, Liam did mighty solid. He outraced Yuki, who finished in 15th with Liam in 13th, which, by the way, I use that term very loosely, since it's more like Yuki was in the points fighting and then got penalized later, which saw Liam finish ahead of him. But my point is, Liam did good considering the hell skip that was the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix. Manza also is not a true comparison of the two, since Yuki didn't even start the dang thing. However, in qualifying, Liam would be very competitive. He ultimately failed to score points, but a P11 finish was still very promising, also given how atrocious the AlphaTauri car was in 2023. However, we all know his big highlight from the five races Liam did, which of course was Singapore. First off, in qualifying, he knocked Max out of Q2, no big deal. And then for the race, he was mighty competitive with the much faster cars behind him, which all led to his very first points in the sport with a brilliant P9 finish while Yuki crashed out. Another highlight was in Japan, where despite no points being scored, Liam genuinely outraced Yuki this time, much to his frustration. And by this point, many were saying to just fully replace Danny Rick with Liam. Can't say I blame anyone. Guitar would be a lackluster race from Liam. But other than that, a brilliant five race run from him, where he did the most he could in the AlphaTauri car for a rookie. So just imagine how he actually understood the car like Yuki did. And for 2024, he was again relegated to number three driver for both teams. But as we know, Ricardo will be dropped for the last six races after the mid to late 30-year-old man couldn't perform like he was 26 again. Shocker. So with Liam being in a much faster racing bulls car again, also paired up with Yuki, but this time permanently, Liam needed to show his muscles and balls for true now. Anyways, for his first race in Kota, he immediately pissed off Alonzo with some, let's say, daring driving. And Liam not learning his lesson with messing with Hispanics, pissed off Checo at Mexico with, again, daring driving. Now, normally, I don't have a problem with daring moves since as long as you pull them off, go for it, man. They're great. But that's when you pull them off. All Liam did in both of these instances was hit another driver for no reason and get surprised when they fight back. What also did not help is after both instances, Liam would say in the interviews, he has no plans to make friends and is only here to win. Again, a good mindset. I don't mind that, but the least you can do is back it up. By saying those things after the two races he has had, it just puts a massive target on his back in both senses of needing to hit a goal and wanting to be absolutely decked across the face. Regardless, Liam did get a P9 in Kota and another P9 in Brazil, and by the season's end, he was literally at Yuki's pace. He was outraced 4-2. However, Liam was never far behind Yuki, and it was clear, give Liam a full season without bullshit, he will absolutely be on it. He was just hired as Max's teammate at Red Bull. What? Horndog, you employ the driver with only 11 races to be Max's teammate at Red Bull, the top team. What is wrong with you? This goes as well as you can imagine, since after the first two rounds of 2025, Liam was dropped. Since Shocker, he did not at all have an understanding yet of F1 cars and how to race them, let alone doing that in the hardest car to drive on the grid. So Yuki was then his replacement, with Liam back down to V-Carb. It's fair to say he's had a stressful time as of late. Obviously, you would not be in the right headspace after getting into unnecessary beef with drivers you shouldn't beef with, being promoted to the most stressful team on the grid, and getting dropped just as quick in the span of about 4-5 months. So even though he is in a better car, Liam still couldn't drive to the best of his abilities. It was only until the middle portion of the season that Liam was finally able to nail down some brilliant results, and come season's end of 2025, he was nearly, if not at, Hedgehog's level of performance. This would be a great base to go off of in 2026, since now both drivers can really be compared. However, Hedgehog would get promoted to Red Bull, and now Liam is a team leader with his new rookie teammate, Arvid Lindblad. So despite all his time in F1 so far, now he finally has a year to show what he is made of without mental pressure set on by either the media or himself. If anything, this is now the ideal situation for him, since yeah, Lindblad is good, but he's also a rookie. Liam should have leverage and it's now up to him whether he can find the potential we all know he has, or become the first what could have been driver of the new generation. But what exactly went wrong? How did Liam go from one of the most hyped up names in motorsport to a driver most don't like, and most would rather see leave the F1 grid? Well, for a lack of a better phrase, I think he blew his load way too quickly. Those five races by Liam in 2023 were so beloved by many at the time, since he was being humble. He was just saying how grateful he is for the opportunity, and how he is trying his best. However, in 2024, when Danny Rick got forced into a retirement home, Liam's seat became permanent on the grid, and because of that, maybe he felt that it was his time now, and he must show his muscles. Because the driving from 2023 to 2024 wasn't much different. In fact, Liam has always been an aggressive overtaker who sends crazy moves. However, where in the junior series they worked because the series are all spec series, in F1, it just doesn't. In F1, every car is different. Every car you fight with should be raced with that in mind. So when you're in a V-car, sending dive bombs on a Red Bull, you just don't win those fights ever, even if Checo is washed. But obviously, mistakes happen. Even the most flawless of drivers still have their flaws, but the issue comes from 2025. When Liam gets embarrassed at Red Bull for two races, you would think he changes things up a bit, but no. He continued being a very overzealous and crash-happy driver, despite his previous attempts clearly failing. It was like he refused to learn, since the driving that got him into F1 couldn't possibly fail on him now. Thankfully, Liam did eventually learn his lesson, and while he is still very aggressive, midway through 2025, he started to be more patient and clean with his moves. F1 is not Super Formula or F2 or DTM. F1 is F1, and you need to adapt to it the best you can. An example I always use is Brendan Hartley. Hartley is a fantastic racing driver, but he never adapted to F1, which caused him to fail spectacularly in 2018. Liam could either end up like that or try racing to F1 standards for once, and thankfully, he went with the latter. Another issue with Liam, though, is, of course, his ego. When he was being propped up by Red Bull for so long as their next big driver to watch out for, naturally, you build an ego. And having an ego is fine, but, as we learned with Lando Norris, it's only fine if he can back it up. When Liam is crashing into people and not understanding how to race in F1, that doesn't really warrant an ego now, does it? I do believe he still struggles with this, unfortunately, since as we saw in Round 1 this year, after getting into another fight with Checo, he went on the interviews ranting about him for so long instead of focusing on why the incident happened in the first place. This can be applicable to many things in life, but even if you feel like you aren't at fault for something, it is important to still have the humility to review whatever incident happened and understand if there was something you could've done better. There will always be something you could've done better. I do trust Liam can learn his lesson, and sometimes, you know, keep your thoughts to yourself, not everyone needs to know who you hate or what you hate, makes you seem very insecure and insufferable at times. So as long as Liam can work on these things that plague his game, I don't think it's over for him yet. I do have faith Liam will improve his behavior and driving, also thanks to new regs, plus Red Bull are in a bit of a pickle since if they do decide to drop him, who would it be for? Yes, Nikola Solov is doing pretty good so far, but it's only been one race in F2, and he did also spend three years in F3, far too long for any aspiring rookie. I think during this time, Liam can use that to his advantage and regain the skill we know he has. I still believe in Liam Lawson. Just please stop baiting with Checo, man. So those are my thoughts on Liam Lawson. I still have faith in Liam, and I will always have faith in him until the day he is either dropped from the sport or gets the success he deserves. Liam should absolutely be up there with the other top rookies of the new gen, so I just wanna see where he goes from here. Anyways, I wanna give a quick shoutout to all members of the vlog for their continued support, and make sure you join if you want cool benefits as well as just helping me out. Anyways, if you enjoyed today's video, make sure you leave a like and subscribe since it really helps me out. Make sure you let me know in the comments what you think of this, and as always, have an amazing day. Good weather for the duck.