Liam Lawson has laid bare the brutal politics of the Formula 1 paddock, admitting that trusting people in F1 is something he finds genuinely difficult — and his reasons cut right to the bone. Speaking on the High Performance podcast, the Racing Bulls driver opened up about life inside one of sport’s most complex environments, and what he learned from his turbulent start to 2025.
Trusting People in F1: Lawson Lifts the Lid on Paddock Politics
The 24-year-old had a rollercoaster beginning to the season, spending just two races as Max Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull before being demoted back to Racing Bulls — a move he felt was poorly handled. Lawson has previously spoken about pretending he never drove for Red Bull at all, and now he’s going even deeper.
He’s been clear that his frustration isn’t aimed solely at Red Bull. “I don’t want to specify so much that it’s just particularly Red Bull, but it’s just how Formula 1 is,” he explained. The sheer scale of a modern F1 operation, he argues, makes genuine communication almost impossible. Hundreds of people, laser-focused on their own roles, create a machine that functions brilliantly on track but leaks like a sieve off it.
“Things get lost in translation between people,” he said. “I feel like at the time they could have done a much better job at communicating it to me. I wish they had, but stuff like this happens quite a lot where rumours spread.”
Secrets Don’t Stay Secrets Long in Formula 1
Beyond his own demotion, Lawson revealed something that will resonate with anyone who’s followed the sport closely — nothing stays private for long. A two-person conversation about a driver’s future can be splashed across the media within hours. He knows, because he’s been in those rooms.
“Those conversations, I was there at the start of it, and then it was straight out to the media,” he said bluntly. It’s a reality that makes genuine loyalty almost impossible to rely on. Consequently, Lawson has learned to keep his inner circle tight.
“To trust everybody is very, very tough,” he admitted. “Everybody is on their own journey in the team and everybody is also looking after themselves, which is fair, because it’s their career. So when you have situations, it’s very natural for people to protect themselves first.”
For Lawson, the answer is ruthless simplicity — trust fewer people, and trust them completely. Motorsport.com has tracked his rocky path through the Red Bull programme, and it’s clear this young driver is growing up fast. Whether Racing Bulls can give him the stability to convert that hard-won wisdom into points remains to be seen.