Liam Lawson has described the F1 2025 season as an \u201cemotional rollercoaster\u201d following a campaign that had both highs and lows.<\/p>\n
From the intense pressure to deliver to the lack of time available to process the sport mentally, Lawson admitted he\u2019s a different person now than he was a year ago.<\/p>\n
In the days that followed the F1 2024 season, Liam Lawson was announced as Max Verstappen\u2019s teammate at Red Bull.<\/p>\n
His had been a merteoric if unconventional path, from contemplating the potential end of his F1 dreams, to a sudden call-up at the 2023 Dutch GP, to being drafted in full-time in the latter stages of 2024, replacing an eight-time race winner.<\/p>\n
With less than a dozen races to his name, he was pitched against the benchmark driver of the era, a task regarded as the most difficult in Formula 1.<\/p>\n
Back then, the world was at his feet. Red Bull was capable of race wins, and Lawson has shown strong potential.<\/p>\n
But just two weekends into the 2025 season, the carpet was whipped from under him. Tough events in Australia and China left him on the backfoot, his confidence plummeting. Perhaps the harshest decision of his career was made, and the New Zealander was bumped back to Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n
In retrospect, it was the right call. Too much had been asked of Lawson too soon, and allowed to carry on as it was threatened not only Red Bull\u2019s fortunes, but Lawson\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
More exclusives from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n
Exclusive: How Alpine F1 company document could impact Christian Horner F1 return option<\/a><\/p>\n The most critical race of F1 2026 revealed<\/a><\/p>\n Harsh as it was, arguably moving back to Racing Bulls was a saving grace. And, in time, his form recovered.<\/p>\n He was strong in Monaco, a weekend when a discovery would lead to improved results further down the line as things began to click, and the confidence began to return.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s highs and lows you go through,\u201d Lawson told PlanetF1.com in an exclusive interview.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re inevitable in the sport. Eventually you\u2019re gonna have a bad weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cI probably feel like we\u2019ve had more of them than we than we should have, or more of them than I would have wanted.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously I\u2019m I take things from those weekends to learn from.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s often said that there is more to learn in defeat that victory, but having the time to process and absorb those lessons in Formula 1 is difficult.<\/p>\n With a packed 24-race calendar in which drivers are jetting from one country to the next, with sponsorship commitments and simulator sessions shoehorned in between, there is little time for introspection.<\/p>\n For Lawson, that created a further hurdle. Processing the events of any given weekend, understanding and dealing with whatever emotions, it was difficult just to find the time.<\/p>\n \u201cTrying to stay on top of, just mentally, the highs, the lows, the fact that you have, sometimes three days or not even that, to move past them,\u201d he trailed off.<\/p>\n \u201cTrying to take the most important things from a weekend and apply them, whether they\u2019re it\u2019s a good weekend or a bad weekend, you really don\u2019t have time to dwell on things.<\/p>\n \u201cThat sort of emotional roller coaster that you go through is something that is quite intense, and something I\u2019ve experienced more this year than any other year.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawson<\/a> is no stranger to doing things the hard way.<\/p>\n Growing up, his family couldn\u2019t afford his racing programme, forcing him to work hard to secure the funding himself.<\/p>\n That landed him on Red Bull\u2019s radar, as part of its notoriously brutal driver development programme. Even then, there were no guarantees.<\/p>\n In 2023, Lawson and I spoke over the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. He was competing in Super Formula at the time, something he spoke of enthusiastically, but he longed for an F1 opportunity that he felt was slipping away.<\/p>\n Soon after his call-up in place of Daniel Ricciardo a few races later, we spoke again. While a weight had been lifted, he quietly confessed that he thought his F1 chance had slipped him by.<\/p>\n Lawson is well accustomed to doing things the hard way. But, when given the opportunity, he\u2019s typically grasped it with both hands.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a massively mental sport,\u201d he said, back in the here and now.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when you\u2019re when you\u2019re on track, and you\u2019re in a session, and you\u2019re going out for a qualifying lap; there\u2019s so many variables, you have so many things that that need to go together and and a lot of them are in your control.<\/p>\n \u201cEven that in itself is something that is in the back of your mind sometimes.<\/p>\n \u201cTrying to deliver, and under that sort of intensity, is something that\u2019s very tough.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Formula 1, especially in your early years when you haven\u2019t cemented yourself as an F1 driver, you\u2019re still being examined.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s something that that we probably have to deal with quite a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Nothing can prepare a driver for the step into Formula 1.<\/p>\n A reserve driver role is all well and good, as is progressing up the established ladder via Formula 3 and Formula 2, but there is nothing quite like being a fully fledged F1 driver \u2013 for good and bad.<\/p>\n Expectations increase, visibility increases, the pressure increases, and every moment is scrutinised now more than it ever has been by a media room that itself is under the pump in the quest for a headline.<\/p>\n If it bleeds, it leads, goes the old adage. Negativity sells, which prompts difficult and often confronting questions, forcing a driver, Lawson, to dwell on moment he\u2019d rather forget.<\/p>\n Dealing with those pressures, and learning to shut out the noise is critical for a driver. It\u2019s a skill, some are naturally better than others, some like or need to talk it through.<\/p>\n Lawson, who has demonstrated throughout his career that he\u2019s an especially tough nut to crack, has Enzo Mucci \u2013 a performance coach with a passion for the mental side of motorsport.<\/p>\n \u201cEnzo\u2019s somebody that\u2019s been right there through through all of it,\u201d Lawson said.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially at the very start of the year with the first couple of races, he was somebody I spoke to a lot.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s somebody that I\u2019m very fortunate to have, and have had for quite a long time, to have the relationship with him from when I was very young.<\/p>\n \u201cTo basically still have him to lean on now, he\u2019s some somebody that I\u2019m very grateful for.\u201d<\/p>\n By the end of F1 2025, Lawson had refound his mojo.<\/p>\n Impressive in Azerbaijan, he proved a match for Isack Hadjar from the mid-point of the season \u2013 once he\u2019d steadied the ship following a tumultuous start to the year.<\/p>\n More on the huge upcoming changes in the F1 2026 season<\/p>\n F1 2026 driver line-up: Which drivers are already confirmed for 2026?<\/a><\/p>\n F1 2026: Confirmed teams and power unit suppliers for huge regulation changes<\/a><\/p>\n And it\u2019s changed him. Still only 23, the experience has added another layer of resilience and served only to reinforce his fortitude and determination.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody\u2019s changing and evolving,\u201d he conceded.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot in this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal of Liam Lawson 12 months ago hasn\u2019t changed, and what I\u2019ve been working towards since I was a kid, and what I\u2019ve what I\u2019m trying to achieve, has never changed.<\/p>\n \u201cBut what I\u2019ve learned this year, and after doing a season in this sport, is you\u2019re constantly changing or learning.\u201d<\/p>\n Through the lessons, the personal growth \u2013 the rollercoaster \u2013 Lawson remains recognisable from the Kiwi lad who first caught the eye of Helmut Marko.<\/p>\n He\u2019s relaxed, easy going, funny, even somewhat mischievous \u2013 the sort that would sit in the back row of the class room and throw paper planes when the teacher wasn\u2019t looking.<\/p>\n In Abu Dhabi, as I sat in conversation in the Yas Marina paddock, it began to rain. Not water, but small balls of paper. Above us, just out of sight, Liam Lawson was lobbing bits of paper at us, his ruse uncovered when he poked his head out the window to take in his handiwork, and laughed. He\u2019d survived one hell of a rollercoaster ride.<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n