Liam Lawson revealed his “shock” when he was dropped by Red Bull, as the team’s principal, Christian Horner, explained why he made the “terrifying” decision.
Last week, Red Bull significantly decided to Demote Lawson to the Junior Team Racing Bulls to just two races in their first campaign with the team.
The decision comes about three months after Prince was selected as a teammate of world champion Max Verstappen, following a poor performance from Australian and Chinese New Zealanders.
Speaking exclusively to Tokyo’s Sky Sports F1 on Wednesday, Lawson said: “To be honest, it was definitely a shock.
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Craig Slater explains why Liam Lawson was swapped for Yuki Tsunoda after just two races in the first season of Formula from next week’s Japan Grand Prix.
“The argument we had wasn’t really leaning in this direction, so it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting.”
While Red Bull has made a ruthless reputation with mid-season changes to its driver lineup, the team’s latest switch speeds were completely unprecedented.
Lawson’s struggle during the opening two rounds was extreme, but neither was in an unexperienced circuit, and much within the paddock remained surprised that the team hadn’t waited for him to act on tracks he knew better, like Suzuka.
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David Croft believes Liam Lawson should have been given more time in his Red Bull seat, but he believes he will benefit from taking a step back with the Racing Bulls.
Lawson was asked if he was unhappy with the lack of time he was given.
“And I felt like I had more time to go, especially where I went before… It was a tough start. We had a rocky test, we had a rocky weekend in Melbourne with practice, and obviously China was a sprint.
“I think the cars were very tricky before, and I think it helped me, I love the opportunity.
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Horner: We asked Lawson too early
The relegation was undoubtedly humiliating for Lawson, but this episode is also extremely embarrassing for Horner and Red Bull Advisor Helmut Marco, who has the final say in the team’s driver lineup.
Lawson drove just 11 Grand Prixes – Beyond the Racing Bulls and two separate spells, he was chosen as the Horneda.
Also, speaking only to Sky Sports F1 on Wednesday, Horner took responsibility for asking “too early” from the age of 23.
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Liam Lawson listens as he apologised on the Red Bull team radio after the difficult Chinese Grand Prix finished 12th.
“Of course, it’s terrifying because you’re taking someone’s dreams and desires away, but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. In this example, I don’t think this is Liam’s end.
“I was very clear with him. That’s a sample of two races. I think we asked a lot of you too quickly.”
“We have to accept it. I think we were asking him too soon. And this is to develop him again the talent he knows he has, the opportunity he gives Yuki the opportunity and the knowledge he is trying to take advantage of the experience he has.”
The Red Bull car appears to be extremely difficult to drive during the opening phase of the season, with Verstappen being second in Australia and fourth in China discarding it.
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Karun Chandhok and Bernie Collins question why Red Bull didn’t follow a similar test schedule for Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli when introducing Liam Lawson to the car.
Horner says that in-team acceptance needed to quickly develop the RB21 was a major consideration in fostering the experienced tsunami that has finished four seasons in Formula 1.
“We do work related to cars,” Horner said. “We need to improve our cars, we need to take advantage of the experiences Yuki has.
“And in the meantime, you (Lawson) will need to go to the Racing Bulls and rebuild in an environment you know.
“The engineers were worried about Lawson.”
Pushing that he had convinced him to make a decision, Horner said both himself and the engineer were “concerned” about the extent to which Lawson was mentally struggling with the situation.
He said:
“We could have left it behind. I think Liam is a talented driver. Maybe he got there within half a season, but there’s no time.
“It was very clear to the engineering side of the team, and you could see how hard Liam was and how heavy it was on his shoulder.
“The engineers were very worried about it, and I think it was logical at the end of the day.”
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Bernie Collins and Ted Kravitz provide insight into how Yuki Tsunoda thinks he will play as he stepped up from the junior team Racing Bulls to Red Bull. You can listen to the F1 show podcasts now.
Lawson asserts that there’s nothing about his driving style that made the RB21 particularly challenging for him, but he simply needed more time to adjust.
“For me, that’s not really the case,” Lawson said. “It’s difficult to drive a car, but we were going through the process of making that adjustment.
“To be honest, that’s honestly true. But in pre-season testing in Formula 1, you’re driving all day long and you have a lot of time to adjust things like that.
“Every time we went out, we were tuned or used to something a little unknown. It wasn’t that driving style or anything like that. It’s literally adjusting. And for me, we didn’t have time to do it.”
“Verstappen was surprised at the speed of decisions.”
Speculation has been that Verstappen is not impressed with Saga as a result of an Instagram post that included criticism that Red Bull is liked by his official account.
Despite years of interest from Mercedes and Aston Martin, the team has already tweeted about their future for the team, but Horner has reduced the impact of their decision on Verstappen.
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The F1 show has identified some of the issues Red Bull needs to deal with ahead of other seasons of Formula One season.
“I think he was surprised by the speed, but he could see how hard Liam is,” Horner said.
“He knows where we need to improve in our car, and he works hard with the engineering team.
“We had a very good session with him last week. He’s very focused on improving the car, finding the last tenth and really grasping us before the McLarens.”
Verstappen will have the opportunity to share his thoughts on the situation when he fulfilled his media duties on Thursday ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Thursday, April 3rd
5am: Driver press conference
Friday, April 4th
3am: Japanese GP Practice 1 (session starts at 3:30am) *5.30am: Team Principal’s press conference 6.45am: Japanese GP Practice 2 (session starts at 7am) *8.15am: F1 Show**
Saturday, April 5th
3:15am: Japan’s GP Practice 3 (session starts at 3:30am)
Sunday, April 6th
4:30am: Japanese GP Build-Up: Grand Prix Sunday * 6am: Japanese Grand Prix * 8am: Japanese GP Reaction: Checkered Flag * 9am: Ted Notebook *
* Live at Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 lives in Sky Sports F1, heading to the iconic Suzuka Circuit of the Japanese Grand Prix from April 4th to 6th. Stream Sky Sports Now – No Contract, Cancel Anytime
