> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-race.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What's really at stake for Lawson on shock Red Bull F1 return - URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-really-at-stake-for-liam-lawson-shock-red-bull-f1-return/ - Published: 2026-08-19T12:02:13.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-19T12:05:39.000Z - Description: A very tricky to drive Red Bull and going up against Max Verstappen actually provides the conditions Liam Lawson needs to make his Zandvoort super-sub role a success - Author: Edd Straw - Tags: Formula 1, #red-bull, #racing-bulls, #liam-lawson, #secondary_feature_2 Liam Lawson’s [unexpected outing](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/lawson-replaces-injured-hadjar-as-tsunoda-gets-f1-return/) for Red Bull Racing at Zandvoort is a free hit. He’s never driven the Red Bull RB22, he’s been thrown into it at short notice, it’s not an easy car to drive and he’s up against Max Verstappen. Failure, in terms of the results, is the baseline, so no rational observer should take any negatives from how it plays out while anything he does achieve should enhance his reputation. This is the ideal mindset for Lawson to embrace. Unburdened by expectations, he has the best chance of getting into that flow state where athletes do their best work, focusing fully on the process rather than obsessing about the results. That is what will allow him to do something that is, in the circumstances, special. This is easier said than done, and is dependent on Red Bull giving him the support and confidence that it denied him in 2025\. When he was promoted last year, he was set up to fail. This wasn’t by design, but in the situation. It’s true he didn’t make the most of the opportunity, looking all at sea in the first two events of 2025, and the first objective for any driver is to deliver and hang onto the seat, but axing a young and inexperienced driver before giving him the time and backing to do his best work was absurd. Once you've made the decision to promote a driver you need to back them and let it play out. Regardless of your position on whether or not he should have been promoted, that reflected terribly on Red Bull. Fortunately, that’s a different Red Bull team to the one that exists today, and Laurent Mekies has worked with Lawson before and should know how to get the best out of him. Inevitably, there has to be some adverse set of circumstances making it difficult for Lawson as that appears to be baked into the Red Bull way of doing things. He’s under pressure for his seat in 2027 despite performing at a level so far this season that should make him a lock, as he's proven himself to be a good F1 midfielder. It would do in a normal midfield F1 team, but the Red Bull driver conveyor belt keeps on rolling and the need to find a berth for Formula 2 championship leader Nikola Tsolov means Lawson’s position isn’t yet secure. So this is his chance to demonstrate to Red Bull just how much he’s improved now he’s had the chance to bed in as an F1 driver. He has impressed for Racing Bulls so far this year, performing consistently, building on the momentum that gathered as last season progressed once steering changes had been made to give him the feel he thrives with, and adapting well to the challenges of the new power units. This is less about a shot at getting back into Red Bull Racing, more about underlining the fact he should be in a Racing Bulls next year, and if not there then elsewhere in F1’s midfield. The stakes and his lack of familiarity with the car will make it difficult for Lawson to lock into the process-focused, free-hit mindset. --- [Our verdict on Lawson and Tsunoda's Dutch GP call-ups](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/our-verdict-lawson-tsunoda-dutch-gp-f1-call-ups/) --- But that’s the job of the professional sportsperson, while it’s the responsibility of those on the outside to be realistic about what constitutes doing a good job as a stand-in and recognise this is a no-downside, all-potential-upside weekend. And, as a consequence, how much it would mean if he produces something special.