Senior advisor Helmut Marko believes Red Bull made “a mistake” promoting Liam Lawson for the 2025 Formula 1 season amid his dismissal.
Lawson was given the nod over Yuki Tsunoda to partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull in 2025, despite having just 11 Grand Prix starts.
After just two rounds, Red Bull has made the ruthless decision to axe the New Zealander and a straight swap with Tsunoda has been put in place for the Japanese GP onward.
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner believes Tsunoda’s greater experience will be “beneficial” to the Milton Keynes squad as it seeks to sort out its troubled RB21 machine and noted a “duty of care” toward Lawson.
But Marko is of the opinion in hindsight that Lawson shouldn’t have been promoted in the first place.
“Yuki was too inconsistent, and that is why we unanimously chose Lawson, but under the increased pressure, he couldn’t deliver from day one,” Marko told OE24.
“He entered a downward spiral, it is like a stricken boxer and on top of that, it is hard to get out of it. In that sense, it was a mistake.
“In Australia, Liam had a turbo problem in the third free practice.
“The mileage he lost there, he came up short, and what he has delivered so far is obviously not enough, we need a strong second driver, if only for [in-race] tactics.”
Lawson exited Q1 during all three qualifying sessions in Australia and China, scoring zero points, meanwhile, Tsunoda was thriving at Racing Bulls, securing top-10 grid slots throughout with strategy miscues costing him the chance at scoring beyond three points attained in the Shanghai Sprint.
Before the swap, Marko told Autosport “Yuki is a different Yuki from the years before. He is in the form of his life.
“Obviously he changed his management. He has a different approach. He’s more mature. It took a while, but now it looks like it’s working.”
Rebuilding Lawson’s confidence
Lawson acknowledged in Shanghai that what he needed to acclimate to the Red Bull RB21 was time, but admitted to Sky Sports that “unfortunately, I don’t really have it.”
Sadly, Lawson was right as Red Bull has made its quickest-ever call to swap drivers.
“It has been difficult to see Liam struggle with the RB21 at the first two races and as a result we have collectively taken the decision to make an early switch,” said Horner.
“We have a duty of care to protect and develop Liam and together, we see that after such a difficult start, it makes sense to act quickly so Liam can gain experience, as he continues his F1 career with Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, an environment and a Team he knows very well.”
Lawson starred brightly at Racing Bulls during his two stand-in stints in 2023 and ‘24 and Team Principal Laurent Mekies is ready to rebuild the New Zealander in order to realise his potential.
“Everyone here at VCARB is looking forward to working hard with Liam to give him the best environment possible for him to shine in our car and to express the talent we all know he has,” he said.
“He fit in so well last year, and we cannot wait to challenge ourselves and grow as a Team.”
READ MORE – Red Bull confirms Yuki Tsunoda swap with Liam Lawson from F1 Japanese GP
The bigger mistake was not retaining Adrian Newey.