Mar.28 (GMM) Demoting Liam Lawson from Red Bull should “save his career,” according to team advisor Dr Helmut Marko.
Plenty of sympathy is being extended from the Formula 1 world to the 23-year-old rookie New Zealander, who after performing abysmally in Australia and China now sees his seat swapped with Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda.
“In order to save his career, we decided to send him back to Racing Bulls,” Marko told Servus TV.
Many, though, are struggling to see the silver lining for Lawson, with former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde calling it a “bullying move”.
On the Instagram post, fellow Dutchman Max Verstappen ‘liked’ the post.
Red Bull acknowledges that its 2025 car is even more difficult to drive for any driver other than Verstappen. “In all these years,” Marko admitted, “Max is the only one who can handle the car optimally.
“For a young driver, we see that it’s even more difficult. If we had just left Liam in the car, we think his performance under pressure would have been even worse.
“Because we have a second team, he can rehabilitate himself in a more relaxed atmosphere. With Racing Bulls, he has the chance to build something up again.”
Marko justified the decision to originally overlook Tsunoda for the 2025 seat on the basis that he was too “inconsistent” last year – and that Lawson had a more resilient character.
So why is Tsunoda suddenly now suitable for the top seat?
“We have seen that Tsunoda has made a step forward over the winter. As a person, he has also become stronger. And as a Japanese, Yuki obviously knows the Suzuka circuit very well.
“Yuki was too inconsistent,” Marko insists. “That’s why we unanimously decided on Lawson. But under the increased pressure, he couldn’t deliver, right from the first day in Australia. Then he went into a downward spiral.
“It’s like a battered boxer – it’s very difficult to get out of it by then. In that sense, yes, it was a mistake.”
Indeed, Lawson’s current form guaranteed that Red Bull will not be in contention for the constructors’ championship.
“What he did so far was obviously too little,” Marko told Osterreich newspaper. “We need a strong second driver, if only for the team’s tactics.”
Marko, however, pushed back on the idea that the Racing Bulls car is actually currently a better car than the 2025 Red Bull. “It’s true that the RB21 is difficult to drive,” he said. “The Racing Bull is easier to handle and very fast on a qualifying lap.
“But in the race, it lags significantly behind the Red Bull Racing car.
“This isn’t the end of the world for Lawson. He still has every opportunity to launch a successful Formula 1 career with the Racing Bulls.”
And now, it’s over to 24-year-old Tsunoda, with four full seasons of experience with the Faenza based junior outfit under his belt. “The opportunity of a lifetime,” France’s Auto Hebdo wonders, “or a poisoned chalice?”
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