Liam Lawson has revealed his “shock” by falling from Red Bull after team director Christian Horner explained the reasons for making a “terrible” decision.
Red Bull last week decided to destroy Lawson in their bulls Junior Racing only two races in his first campaign with the team, with Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda promoted in front of his home race this weekend.
The decision was made just more than three months after Lawson was selected over Tsunoda as the reign of World Champion Max Verstappen, following poor performances from New Zealander in Australia and China.
Talking exclusively to Sky Sports F1 In Tokyo on Wednesday, Lawson said: “It was definitely a friend, honestly. It’s not something I saw coming.
“The discussions we were also, I think, were not really supported in this regard, so it was not eventually something I was expecting.”
Red Bull has developed a ruthless reputation to make changes in the middle of the season in their driver’s formations, but the speeding speed of the team was completely unprecedented.
While Lawson’s wars during the two -round opening were extreme, the two came to the circles where he had no experience and many inside the paddle were surprised that the team did not expect to see it on a runway with which he was known, such as Suzuka.
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David Croft believes that Liam Lawson should have been given more time in Red Bull’s place but thinks he would take advantage of one step back with racing bulls.
Asked if he was frustrated by the lack of time given to him, Lawson said: “Honestly, yes. Of course, I would have loved more time.
“And I felt like more time, especially going to the places I would be before … It was a difficult start. We had a rock test. We had a first rock weekend in Melbourne with practice. And then China was a sprint.
“I think I would go to the places I would be with the way the car was quite complicated, I think it would have helped and I would have loved that opportunity. But it is not my decision, so I’m here to use it as much as possible.”
Horner: We asked very quickly Lawson
While the breakdown will undoubtedly have been humiliating for Lawson, the episode is also very embarrassing for the advisor of Horner and Red Bull Helmut Marko, who have the last word in the team’s driver formation.
Lawson had driven in only 11 Grands Prix – through two spells separated with racing bulls – when he was chosen over tsunoda.
Also speaking exclusively to Sky Sports F1 On Wednesday, Horner took responsibility to ask “very quickly” from the 23-year-old.
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Listen while Liam Lawson apologized to the Red Bull Team Radio after a difficult Chinese Grand Prix, who saw him end up in 12th place, in what is set to try his last appearance for the team before being replaced by Yuki Tsunoda.
“Of course, it’s terrible because you are removing someone’s dreams and aspirations, but sometimes you have to be cruel to being kind, and I think in this case, this is not the end for Liam.
“I was very clear with him is that it’s a sample of two races. I think we’ve asked a lot of you very soon.”
“We have to admit, I think we are asking a lot of him very soon. And so it is for him, again, to feed the talent we know he has, again in the Bulls Racing place, while giving Yuki the opportunity and seeking to exploit his experience.”
Red Bull’s car seemed extremely difficult to drive in the opening stages of the season, with Verstappen removing his way to the second to Australia and the fourth in China.
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Karun Chandhok and Bernie Collins wondering why Red Bull did not follow a similar test schedule with Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli when introducing Liam Lawson in the car.
Horner says an admission within the team they have to develop quickly RB21 was a great consideration in promoting the most experienced Tsunoda, which has completed four seasons on F1.
“We have work to do with the car,” Horner said. “We need to improve the car. We need to attract the experience of Yuki.
“And in the meantime, you (Lawson) have to go and rebuild yourself in racing bulls, in an environment you know and it’s probably a little less pressure than Red Bull Racing.”
‘Engineers were worried about Lawson’
Printed about what persuaded him to make the decision, Horner said he himself and the engineers were “worried” about the extent to which Lawson was mentally fighting with the situation.
He said: “I think that with everything we saw in Australia and China, you can see that Liam was really bad.
“We could have left it, and I think Liam is a talent driver. Maybe within half a season he would have arrived there, but we just don’t have that time.
“It was something that was very clear about the engineering side within the team, how much Liam was fighting with everything, and you can see that weight on his shoulders.
“Engineers were coming to me very worried about it, and at the end of the day, I think it was the logical thing to do.”
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Bernie Collins and Ted Kravitz offer knowledge of how they think Yuki Tsunoda will perform as he makes step by Bulls Racing Team Junior in Red Bull. You can listen to the latest podcast of the F1 Show now.
Lawson is convinced that there is nothing about his steering style that made RB21 particularly challenging for him, but that he simply needed more time to fix.
“For me, it’s not really,” Lawson said. “The car is hard to drive. But we were going through a process to make that adjustment.
“For me, it’s frankly time. But the way the weekend went, in Formula 1, in a pre-season test, you are driving all day and you have a lot of time to fix and such things. So honestly, lack of time in the car is really the biggest thing for me that made it difficult to fix.
“As a session we would come out, we were some kind of arrangement or got used to something that was a little unknown. It’s not so much a direction style or something like that. It is just regulating literally. And for me, I just didn’t have time to do it.”
‘Verstappen surprised by the speed of decision’
There was speculation that Verstappen was impressed by Saga as a result of an Instagram post containing criticism of Red Bull that was liked by his official account.
There is already a murmur for the future of the Dutch with the team between Mercedes and Aston Martin’s long interest, but Horner played the influence of the decision in Versstappen.
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The F1 show identifies some of the problems that Red Bull should address in front of the rest of the Formula One season.
“I think he was surprised at speed. But he could also see how much Liam was fighting,” Horner said.
“He knows where to improve in the car. He’s really working hard with the engineering team.
“We had a very good session with him last week, where he is simply very focused on improving the car, finding them in recent ten to really take us in conditions with mclarens ahead.”
Verstappen will have the opportunity to share his thoughts on the situation when he fulfills his media obligations Thursday ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Thursday April 3
- 5 Morning: Press Conference of Drivers
Friday April 4
- 3 morning: Japanese GP practice one (session starts at 3.30am)*
- 5.30 morning: Team Directors Press Conference
- 6.45AM: Japanese GP practice two (the session begins at 7am)*
- 8.15am: F1* display
Saturday 5 April
- 3.15AM: Japanese GP practice three (session starts at 3.30am)*
- 6 Breakfast: Japanese Construction Qualification GP **
- 7 morning: Japanese GP qualification*
- 9 Morning: TED Qualifying Notebook*
Sunday April 6
- 4.30 morning: Japanese GP Construction: Grand Prix Sunday*
- 6 morning: Grand Prix Japanese*
- 8 Breakfast: Japanese GP reaction: Controlled Flag*
- 9 Morning: TED Notebook*
*Also live in Sky Sports Main event
Formula 1 goes to the iconic Suzuka circuit for the Japanese Grand Prix on April 4-6, Live at Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with now – without contract, cancel at any time
