Liam Lawson's Uncertain Future in Formula One

Liam Lawson is driving like a man auditioning for his future. The problem is, the cast list above him looks set in stone.

With Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar locked into long-term Red Bull deals, the Racing Bulls outfit has every excuse to roll the current line-up over for at least another year. Stability suits them. The constructors’ table proves it.

Lawson has dragged in the majority of the team’s points as they close on fifth in the championship – a finish that would not only be the best in Racing Bulls’ history, but also worth an estimated $180 million. He has become the sharp end of their charge, the driver turning a midfield project into a serious business result.

Yet as he walked into Interlagos for the Brazilian Grand Prix, his own future remained stubbornly unclear.

“I don’t know what else they want me to do,” he admitted when asked again where he’ll be in 2025. “Every weekend I’ve been trying to do my best. We’ve had a really strong year, we’re in a strong position.

“We’re pulling away from Alpine every weekend, with a few races left we’re trying to stay on top of them. I don’t know what else they want me to do, but it’s just one of those things at the moment.

“It’s the end of the season, when something like this is pushed all the way to the end, you’re left with not many options. It’s not the easiest situation.

“I want to be racing in Formula One, and I’m trying to show my best every weekend.”

The performances back him up. The market does not.

Lawson has been loosely linked with a move to Cadillac in place of Valtteri Bottas, but that path looks faint at best. The American operation has invested heavily in trying to get Formula Two driver Colton Herta the Super Licence points he needs, keeping their own promotion ladder open if they decide to make a change.

So Lawson keeps doing the only thing he can: turning laps and turning heads.

Mexico was the latest example. Starting from the pit lane after a grid penalty triggered by a practice collision with Verstappen, Lawson launched from 22nd and sliced through the field to ninth at the flag. Post-race penalties for Oscar Piastri and Franco Colapinto bumped him up to seventh – a result that would headline most drivers’ seasons.

Yet his body language afterwards had many observers convinced he already knew bad news was coming. Lawson pushed that notion away, pointing instead to the frustration of a weekend shaped by that early clash with his senior Red Bull counterpart.

“If I look a year ago, we were in a different position and I thought about it a lot more,” he said of the contract noise around him. “This year, I haven’t really thought about it so much, but the racing has been stronger.

“Mexico was [about] a specific situation that happened on Friday that made the whole weekend more tough. With the performance, I was in the same place I’d been all year.”

The numbers support him. Lawson has banked 24 points in his last four races, a run that has underpinned Racing Bulls’ late-season surge and widened the gap to Alpine. The car is quick, the driver confident, the results consistent.

Now comes Brazil, and with it a forecast that might tilt the weekend further in his favour.

Rain has already hit Interlagos and more is expected before Monday’s race (NZ time). Lawson has history here in the wet. In 2024 he delivered one of his standout early-career drives on this very circuit, qualifying fifth and finishing ninth in only his eighth Formula One start. The track suits him. So do the conditions.

“I feel like the speed’s been good, in Mexico it was very good,” he said. “We qualified very, very well – we just had the penalty and had to start from pit lane.

“Outside that, we were quick all weekend, the race pace was good. I don’t see why we shouldn’t be quick here.

“It’s a track that I enjoy driving, the car should work well. The bigger question is the weather over the weekend.”

The bigger question for Lawson, though, sits beyond the clouds over Interlagos. If this form, this consistency, and this impact on a team’s best-ever season are not enough to secure a full-time seat, what will be?