Mar.23 (GMM) Liam Lawson’s tenure at Red Bull Racing appears to be nearing a very premature end.
While teammate Max Verstappen continues his quest for a fifth consecutive world championship, Lawson has been legitimately the slowest driver of all in Shanghai – off the back of a similarly-dismal team debut in Australia.
“It takes time,” said the 23-year-old, “but unfortunately I don’t have that. The window in which a car works is so small and I seem to be missing it.”
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher thinks the New Zealander is “another driver that Verstappen can put on the list,” referring to past conquests like Sergio Perez, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly.
“You can see that Lawson’s self-confidence is already shattered,” Schumacher told Sky Deutschland. “He’s saying he doesn’t have time, which makes me think something has already happened behind the scenes.
“That’s difficult for such a young man.”
Indeed, Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko indicated that Red Bull cannot afford to be operating a title-charging team with a driver who’s dead last.
“This is not what we expected,” he said, after Lawson qualified last for the second time in a single weekend.
“We will discuss this calmly. We have a few drivers who are coming up. Thank God, we are well positioned.”
The next race is at Suzuka – Yuki Tsunoda’s home race.
“In Japan?” the Racing Bulls driver said when asked if he would be prepared to move up into Lawson’s cockpit. “Yeah, 100 percent. I mean, the car is faster.”
At that point, the team representative intervened to stop that line of questioning.
Marko, 81, may already have his eye on an alternative candidate.
“Let’s look at the positive,” the Austrian said on Saturday. “Isack Hadjar, who has never driven on this track before, is setting incredible times in his second race and making no mistakes.
“Yuki is right behind him, but Yuki is in his fifth season while Isack is completely new. And then he sets such a time!
“So far, what he’s shown is absolutely fascinating. In Australia, his performance was also sensational until the accident. That can happen – it’s happened to others.
“The sun and the shadow are close together, and we’ll see what happens,” added Marko, who just a week ago said rookie Hadjar’s crying after his formation lap crash was “embarrassing”.
When asked directly whether a cockpit change might be looming, he responded: “Formula 1 is a competitive sport and Lawson isn’t delivering the performance what we expect from him. Ultimately, that’s what counts.
“We are going to analsze the whole weekend, and then we will see what we are going to do,” Marko, 81, also told Viaplay. “At the moment Liam is the one who is behind.”
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