Liam Lawson was surprised by Red Bull`s decision to take him out of the team. Team boss Christian Horner called it a “horrible” choice and explained why it happened.
Just two races into his first season with Red Bull, Lawson was moved to their junior team, Racing Bulls. Yuki Tsunoda, a Japanese driver, took his place before his home race this weekend. This happened only three months after Lawson was picked over Tsunoda to be Max Verstappen`s teammate, following less strong races in Australia and China.
Speaking in Tokyo, Lawson said he was shocked. He didn`t expect this decision based on their previous talks.
Red Bull is known for quickly changing drivers during a season, but this latest change happened very fast.
Lawson didn`t do great in the first two races, but they were at tracks he didn`t know well. Many people in Formula 1 thought Red Bull should have waited to see how he performed at a track he knew better, like Suzuka.
Lawson said he was frustrated about not getting more time. He felt that with more races, especially at familiar tracks, he would have improved. He admitted it was a tough start with car issues and a sprint race format in China. He believes more time would have helped, but it wasn`t his decision.
Horner said they asked too much of Lawson too quickly. He admitted the driver change is tough for Lawson, but it`s not the end for him. Horner said it was just based on two races and they put too much pressure on Lawson too soon. He said this is to help Lawson grow in the Racing Bulls team while giving Tsunoda a chance to use his experience.
Red Bull`s car has been difficult to drive at the start of this season. Verstappen has struggled in the first races. Horner said that they need to make the car better and they need Tsunoda`s experience to help with this.
Horner mentioned that engineers were worried about Lawson. He said Lawson seemed to be struggling mentally in Australia and China. They felt they didn`t have half a season to wait for him to improve. Engineers were concerned and Horner thought changing drivers was the right thing to do.
Lawson believes it wasn`t his driving style that was the problem with the car. He just needed more time to adjust. He said in Formula 1 testing, drivers have a lot of time to get used to the car. But during race weekends, there`s not much time, making it hard to adjust to new things each session. He needed more time to adapt.
Horner said Verstappen was surprised by how fast the decision was made, but he also saw Lawson`s difficulties. Verstappen is focused on helping the team improve the car to compete with teams like McLaren.
Marcus Prine