Liam Lawson has revealed his “shock” at being dropped by Red Bull, as team principal Christian Horner explained the reasons for making a “horrible” decision.
Red Bull last week remarkably decided to demote Lawson to their junior squad Racing Bulls just two races into his first campaign with the team, with Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda promoted ahead of his home race this weekend.
The decision was made little more than three months after Lawson had been selected over Tsunoda as reigning world champion Max Verstappen’s team-mate, following poor performances from the New Zealander in Australia and China.
Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports F1 in Tokyo on Wednesday, Lawson said: “It was definitely a shock, honestly. It’s not something that I saw coming.
Craig Slater explains why Liam Lawson has been swapped with Yuki Tsunoda after just two races of the Formula 1 season from next week’s Japanese Grand Prix.
“The discussions we were having as well, I think, weren’t really leaning in this direction, so it was definitely not something that I sort of expected.”
Red Bull have developed a ruthless reputation for making mid-season changes to their driver line-ups, but the speed of the team’s latest switch was completely unprecedented.
While Lawson’s struggles during the opening two rounds were extreme, both came at circuits where he had no experience and many within the paddock were therefore left stunned that the team didn’t wait to see him in action at a track he was more familiar with, such as Suzuka.
David Croft believes Liam Lawson should have been given more time in the Red Bull seat but thinks he will benefit from taking a step back with Racing Bulls.
Asked whether he was frustrated at the lack of time he was afforded, Lawson said: “Honestly, yes. Obviously, I would have loved more time.
“And I felt like with more time, especially going to places that I’d been before… it was a tough start. We had a rocky testing. We had a rocky first weekend in Melbourne with practice. And then obviously China was a Sprint.
“I think going to places that I’d been before with the way the car was quite tricky, I think that would have helped and I would have loved that opportunity. But obviously, it’s not my decision, so I’m here to make the most of this one.”
Horner: We asked too much of Lawson too soon
While the demotion will undoubtedly have been humiliating for Lawson, the episode is also highly embarrassing for Horner and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who have the final say on the team’s driver line-up.
Lawson had driven in just 11 Grands Prix – across two separate spells with Racing Bulls – when he was chosen over Tsunoda.
Also speaking exclusively to Sky Sports F1 on Wednesday, Horner took responsibility for asking “too much too soon” from the 23-year-old.
Listen in as Liam Lawson apologised on Red Bull team radio after a difficult Chinese Grand Prix, which saw him finish 12th, in what is set to prove his final outing for the team before being replaced by Yuki Tsunoda.
“Of course, it’s horrible because you’re taking away someone’s dreams and aspirations, but sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind, and I think that in this instance, this is not the end for Liam.
“I was very clear with him, is that it’s a sample of two races. I think that we’ve asked too much of you too soon.”
“We have to accept, I think we were asking too much of him too soon. And so this is for him to, again, nurture that talent that we know that he has, back in the Racing Bulls seat, whilst giving Yuki the opportunity and looking to make use of the experience that he has.”
Red Bull’s car has appeared extremely difficult to drive in the opening stages of the season, with Verstappen having scrapped his way to second in Australia and fourth in China.
Karun Chandhok and Bernie Collins question why Red Bull did not follow a similar testing schedule to Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli when introducing Liam Lawson to the car.
Horner says that an acceptance within the team that they need to quickly develop the RB21 was a major consideration in promoting the more experienced Tsunoda, who has completed four seasons in F1.
“We’ve got work to do with the car,” Horner said. “We need to improve the car. We need to draw on the experience that Yuki has.
“And in the meantime, you (Lawson) need to go and rebuild yourself in the Racing Bulls, in an environment that you know and is perhaps slightly less pressured than Red Bull Racing.”
‘Engineers were concerned about Lawson’
Pressed on what convinced him to make the decision, Horner said that both himself and engineers were “concerned” over the degree to which Lawson was mentally struggling with the situation.
He said: “I think with everything that we saw in Australia and China, you could see that it was really affecting Liam quite badly.
“We could have left it, and I think that Liam is a driver with talent. Maybe within half a season he would have got there, but we just don’t have that amount of time.
“It was something that was very clear to the engineering side within the team, just how much Liam was struggling with it all, and you could see that weight upon his shoulders.
“The engineers were coming to me very concerned about it, and at the end of the day, I think it was the logical thing to do.”
Bernie Collins and Ted Kravitz provide insight into how they think Yuki Tsunoda will perform as he makes the step up from junior team Racing Bulls to Red Bull. You can listen to the latest The F1 Show podcast now.
Lawson is adamant that there is nothing about his driving style that made the RB21 particularly challenging for him, but that he simply needed more time to adjust.
“For me, it’s really neither,” Lawson said. “The car is hard to drive. But we were going through a process of making that adjustment.
“For me, it’s honestly time. But the way that the weekend went, in Formula 1, in a pre-season test, you’re driving all day and you have loads of time to adjust and things like that. So honestly, a lack of time in the car is really the biggest thing for me that made it hard to adjust.
“Each session we were going out, we were sort of adjusting or getting used to something that was a little bit unknown. It’s not so much a driving style or something like that. It’s just literally adjusting. And for me, I just didn’t have the time to do that.”
‘Verstappen surprised by speed of decision’
There had been speculation that Verstappen was unimpressed by the saga as a result of an Instagram post that contained criticism of Red Bull being liked by his official account.
There are already murmurings over the Dutchman’s future with the team amid long-standing interest from Mercedes and Aston Martin, but Horner played down the decision’s impact on Verstappen.
The F1 Show identifies some of the problems Red Bull needs to address ahead of the rest of the Formula One season.
“I think he was surprised at the speed. But he could also see how much Liam was struggling,” Horner said.
“He knows where we need to improve on the car. He’s been working really hard with the engineering team.
“We had a very good session with him last week where he’s just very focused on improving the car, finding those final few tenths to get us really on terms with the McLarens ahead.”
Verstappen will have the opportunity to share his thoughts on the situation when he fulfils his media obligations on Thursday ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Thursday April 3
- 5am: Drivers’ Press Conference
Friday April 4
- 3am: Japanese GP Practice One (session starts at 3.30am)*
- 5.30am: Team Principals’ Press Conference
- 6.45am: Japanese GP Practice Two (session starts at 7am)*
- 8.15am: The F1 Show*
Saturday April 5
- 3.15am: Japanese GP Practice Three (session starts at 3.30am)*
- 6am: Japanese GP Qualifying build-up*
- 7am: Japanese GP Qualifying*
- 9am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*
Sunday April 6
- 4.30am: Japanese GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
- 6am: THE JAPANESE GRAND PRIX*
- 8am: Japanese GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
- 9am: Ted’s Notebook*
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 heads to the iconic Suzuka Circuit for the Japanese Grand Prix on April 4-6, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
