The Englishman’s private view of one of the shortest driver tenures in Red Bull’s recent history is now on the record. In Drive, due to be published on 22 October 2026 by Transworld, Horner places responsibility for the decision at the door of motorsport advisor Marko and sets out the reservations he says he carried into the 2025 season.

Lawson had made just 11 grand prix starts for the junior team when he was named to replace Sergio Pérez.

“Helmut [Marko] has championed the promotion, but I felt uncomfortable. He was young and inexperienced, with only 11 Formula 1 races to his name, and we would be asking a huge amount from him, and meanwhile, Helmut was playing games.”

Horner also writes that Marko told Lawson his Red Bull drive was secured before the 2024 Abu Dhabi finale, and that the Austrian denied the conversation when Horner raised it with him.

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Lawson lasted two races in the senior car at the start of 2025 before Red Bull swapped him back with Yuki Tsunoda and sent him to Racing Bulls.

“The move back to Racing Bulls was tough for Liam. But he really shouldn’t have been promoted in the first place.”

Horner was out of Red Bull before his book landed

Horner did not see out the season he writes about. He was sacked by Red Bull in mid-2025 and replaced as team principal by Laurent Mekies ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, ending two decades in the role.

Drive reaches shops days before the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.

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Lawson kept at Racing Bulls for 2026

Lawson was confirmed in a Racing Bulls seat for 2026 alongside rookie Arvid Lindblad, with Isack Hadjar promoted to the senior Red Bull car as Max Verstappen’s team-mate.

Nineteen months on from the demotion Horner now writes should never have happened, the New Zealander sits ninth in the drivers’ standings on 75 points, with Racing Bulls the leading constructor outside the four front-running teams.

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