Liam Lawson has revealed that he learnt about Christian Horner’s exit from his role as Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal “in the media,” and insisted that it “doesn’t change too much” for him.
Red Bull announced Horner’s departure on 9 July 2025. He has been replaced by former Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies with immediate effect. Moving into Mekies’s position is Alan Permane, who previously served as the Racing Bulls sporting director.
“Probably the same as everybody else, in the media,” Lawson explained to Motorsport.com and other media when asked how he found out about the news. “I don’t remember when it was announced, but I found out afterwards.”
Although he was surprised by the announcement, Lawson touched on his experience from the start of the season as an example of how quickly things can change in Formula 1. The New Zealander replaced Sergio Perez as Max Verstappen’s team-mate for 2025. But after just two race weekends, he found himself back in the Racing Bulls team with Yuki Tsunoda taking his place.
“Yes, I would say it wasn’t something we expected, but things obviously change in Formula 1. It was surprising having these changes, but it doesn’t really change too much from my point of view of what I’m trying to achieve and what I’m working on.”
Lawson has worked closely with Mekies and Permane for some time and feels that the latter is “very well suited” for the new role at Racing Bulls.
“Just having his presence has been very, very nice but still well within the Red Bull family and for Alan, he’s somebody who’s been in the team now for a couple of years and somebody that I think is very well suited for this position and has relationships with everybody and is very motivated as well to carry on Laurent’s form with what he was doing and we’re all very excited for that.”
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The 23-year-old continued, “I don’t think we’ve lost anything with regard to Alan filling his position, but I think something that Laurent has been very, very good at is leading the team and having everybody around him, and I guess having the motivation very high and working very high in the team.
“He was very, very good for that, worked very, very hard, he’s always there. On a Thursday I think every single race weekend he’s here on a Thursday – probably one of the first guys to arrive, and I guess to show everybody in the team that it is very important.”
Photos from Belgian GP – Thursday
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