Formula 1: The millions of dollars Liam Lawson helped Red Bull earn in 2025 - Opinion

However, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t anything at stake at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Here’s what we learned in Abu Dhabi.

The year might not have gone completely to plan for Liam Lawson.

Having been named to partner Max Verstappen, the season’s first two races saw Red Bull make the harsh decision to drop Lawson back to Racing Bulls, and have Yuki Tsunoda take his place.

That decision has proven to be a career-saver. In the 22 races since, Lawson has been able to rebuild with Racing Bulls, and now finds himself on the 2026 grid at Tsunoda’s expense.

In 22 races, Lawson scored 38 points to finish 14th in the championship. Since the Austrian Grand Prix, though, those numbers are 34 points from 14 races – excellent numbers for a midfield driver.

In comparison, Tsunoda’s season returned 33 points from 22 races, while Max Verstappen took 375 points from that same timeframe.

Being out of Red Bull, and away from its troublesome RB21 car, Lawson proved exactly who he is as a driver - on and off the track - to come away with his reputation intact, and in a good position to kick on next year.

What’s more, he’ll be starting out in 2026 with more than a full season’s worth of experience under his belt, at a team who value him as a leader, and solid midfield performer.

It’s kind of been lost in the wash, a bit, but Racing Bulls securing sixth in the constructors championship is huge.

Be it Racing Bulls, AlphaTauri or Toro Rosso, never has Red Bull’s junior side had a better season than the one they just have. For his part, Lawson added 38 of Racing Bulls’ haul of 92 – three clear of Aston Martin, and 13 in front of Haas.

In the modern age, so much of Formula One has revolved around the commercial side, and in how much teams can benefit from a driver’s off-track value.

Being from New Zealand, Lawson doesn’t tick as many boxes as other drivers in that regard. However, he’s more than made up for it on track.

Finishing sixth saw Racing Bulls take home a reported US$90.68 million. Last year, that number was US$74.1m for finishing eighth. With a reported US$8.54m for each place available, that’s a US$16.58m gain for Red Bull, in part to Lawson’s form.

In 2024, Red Bull learned the hard way that putting cash over performance can hurt you. Keeping Sergio Perez – and falling from first to third in the constructors as a result – cost just over US$17.1m, largely offsetting the value they gained from sponsorship in his native Mexico.

Similar can be said for this year, where Red Bull accepted US$20m worth of payments for Tsunoda to take Lawson’s place. Red Bull finished 18 points shy of Mercedes in third – and lost just over US$8.5m as a result.

Alpine, meanwhile, sacked Australian Jack Doohan for Argentinian Franco Colapinto, in order to maximise sponsorship from South America. Colapinto finished as the only fulltime driver to not score a point, as Alpine came last in the constructors.

Racing Bulls’ three-point gap to Aston Martin – who have Lance Stroll, son of team owner Lawrence Stroll as one of their drivers – has cost them seven figures too.

So while Lawson doesn’t come from a country with a huge population to monetise, his ability on track more than makes up for it.

When 2026 does get underway, keep an eye on Lawson up against Ollie Bearman.

As the two tangled in Brazil earlier this year, and saw Bearman remark “typical Lawson” when he lost out to the Kiwi, the pair came wheel to wheel again in Abu Dhabi.

Lawson was judged to have driven erratically when defending Bearman, and slapped with a five-second penalty as a result.

With Haas and Racing Bulls expected to both be competing for the “best of the rest” tag next year, having two drivers with a rivalry blossoming like this will be box office.

Even as a rookie with Haas, Bearman has had a very good season. He finished 13th in the drivers championship, three points ahead of Lawson.

The 20-year-old has long been part of Ferrari’s plans, and will certainly be at the front of the queue to take the seat currently filled by Lewis Hamilton, possibly as early as 2027.

And if Lawson remains in Red Bull’s plans to return to the senior side, this rivalry could be one of the best on the grid over the coming years.

Aside from the drivers behind him, Lawson will also need to keep an eye on the one to his side.

It’s no secret how highly Red Bull rates Arvid Lindblad – first by fast-tracking his Super Licence, and then promoting him to a 2026 Racing Bulls seat, next to Lawson.

Lindblad’s form in Formula Two this season has been indifferent at best. The 18-year-old finished sixth in the championship, including a sprint race win in Abu Dhabi this weekend.

However, he’s also been hit with plenty of penalties, and was even disqualified in Spa for illegal tyre wear. There are many of the view that Lindblad should have completed a second year in Formula Two, learned how to fight at the front of the grid every week, and be promoted in 2027.

Instead, he’ll be thrown in the deep end – the same way Red Bull did with Verstappen in naming him as a fulltime driver at the age of 16 with Toro Rosso, and then promoting him to the senior side midway through 2016.

Red Bull views Lawson as a mentor figure for Arvid Lindblad at Racing Bulls. But the Kiwi will need to be careful in keeping that challenge at bay, if he’s to avoid being overtaken by a teammate for the second year in a row, after the standout season Isack Hadjar has just completed.

Formula One is a cutthroat sport, that’s never in question. But the human side of sport should never be forgotten.

Only one of the 2025 grid isn’t returning in 2026, and had things played out differently, it could have been Lawson.

Since 2021, Tsunoda has been one of the most likeable drivers on the grid. Standing at around 5-foot-3, he’s been a figure of fun, combined with being a tenacious driver on track.

But the reality of his place on the grid being down to Honda – and it turns out Honda alone – has caught up with him.

Tsunoda will stick around as Red Bull’s reserve and test driver next year. But with Honda’s links to Aston Martin to solidify even further in the new era of the sport, don’t be surprised if there’s a seat for Tsunoda, as early as 2027.

Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.