Red Bull boss Christian Horner has labelled the decision not to retain Sergio Perez’s race engineer in the role with Liam Lawson in Formula 1 in 2025 as a “natural change”.
Lawson has stepped up to a Red Bull drive alongside Max Verstappen amid Perez’s disastrous run culminating in him being dropped once the 2024 season concluded.
Hugh Bird had been the voice in Perez’s ear across the Mexican’s four seasons with the Austrian outfit, but Richard Wood has been selected to guide his replacement in 2025.
Wood, who was a Red Bull Performance Engineer, has experience in the position as he deputised when Bird was on paternity leave during last season’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Some Perez supporters had been critical towards Bird late last season, claiming that his muddled communication had a part in the multiple-time F1 race winner’s struggles.
That prompted Perez to come out and support his long-serving race engineer, with Horner adamant that has had no bearing on Bird not continuing in the role with Lawson.
Instead, Horner addressed that Bird is now operating in a factory-based role which will enable Red Bull to utilise his trackside expertise and allow him more time at home.
“Well it was a natural change; Hugh has recently added to his family and his skill set can really be well utilised within the factory, so it was a win-win situation,” Horner told media including Motorsport Week at the F1 season launch event in London earlier this week.
“He gets a few more nights at home, but at the same time plays a key role in our vehicle dynamics department, bringing all that trackside knowledge and experience into that department.
“He’s an incredibly bright engineer and he’ll be an asset to that, and at the same time it’s part of the team’s natural evolution where it gives Woody the chance to step up and into that role of engineering Liam, so it was just a natural juncture for that to occur.”
Lawson’s expectation at Red Bull
Lawson’s promotion to the senior Red Bull team comes despite him having less than a dozen race starts to his name in the sport across two interim spells with the sister side.
But Horner is convinced the New Zealander possesses the required mental resilience to thrive in the seat next to Verstappen that’s become renowned as a poisoned chalice.
“Liam’s job is quite clear. He’s there to try and provide as much support as he possibly can, there is not an expectation for him to go out and beat a four-time World Champion,” he said.
“If he beats him, fantastic, and there’s no order to say that he can’t, but I think it’s a matter trying to take the pressure off Liam as best we can.
“He has been part of our team for a couple of years as test and reserve driver, and one of the things that really impressed us about him is his mental strength and resilience, and I think being Max’s team-mate is probably the toughest seat in Formula 1.
“We’ll do our best to protect him and develop him, and he only has 11 Grands Prix under his belt, so it’s a big ask, but I think he’s got all the capability and talent and mental strength to be able to deal with that.”
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