Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, has increased speculation about Liam Lawson potentially losing his Red Bull seat after just two races. He did not confirm that the New Zealander would continue driving for the team at the third round of the 2025 Formula 1 season in Japan.
Lawson has had a difficult start to his Red Bull career. He was eliminated in the first qualifying stage in all three sessions (including a Sprint format session) and has shown a lack of race pace compared to his teammate Max Verstappen.
Red Bull promoted Lawson from their junior team, Racing Bulls, after only 11 grand prix appearances in two short periods during 2023 and 2024. They chose the 23-year-old over his more experienced former teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Autosport reported shortly after the Chinese Grand Prix that Red Bull is considering replacing Lawson with Tsunoda as soon as the Japanese driver`s home race in Suzuka, from April 4-6.
When questioned about this in a press briefing after the race in China, Horner notably chose not to deny the report.
Horner stated, “There`s always speculation in the paddock. We`ve just finished the race here. We will review the information and analyze it carefully.”
Asked about Helmut Marko`s claims that a meeting was planned for the following week to discuss the situation, Horner said that “nothing specific” had been arranged.
Following Lawson`s poor qualifying performance on Saturday, where he struggled with tire temperature, Red Bull changed his car`s setup. This violated parc ferme rules, forcing him to start from the pit lane.
Horner commented, “Liam has had a tough couple of races, and a difficult weekend here. We decided to start him from the pit lane to make significant setup changes and gather data over 56 laps. We will analyze this data and do our best to support him as a team.”
He added, “Liam is currently struggling with confidence in the car, which led us to make substantial changes today to find a setup that could boost his confidence.”
`I feel sorry for Lawson`
While Horner was careful in his statements, some of his comments about Lawson`s struggles indicated serious concern within the team.
Horner said, “Liam still has potential, but we are not seeing it currently. The problem for him is that he`s had a couple of very challenging weekends, and he`s under media scrutiny.”
“Pressure naturally increases in this sport, and I feel for him. It`s clearly very difficult for him at the moment.”
“He`s a young driver, and we have a responsibility to support him, which we will do to the best of our ability.”
“Liam is still a very capable driver. We know this, but for some reason, he`s not able to demonstrate it right now.”
The first two races of the season were at tracks Lawson had not raced on before, but Horner dismissed this as a primary excuse for his difficulties.
He said, “These drivers adapt quickly. We will continue to evaluate the situation. We have a lot of data to examine, and that`s what we will do.”
Tsunoda in line for possible promotion?
Tsunoda has publicly expressed his disappointment at being overlooked for promotion but has performed well in the early part of the season.
Despite some misfortune preventing him from scoring points in the initial races, he qualified well and achieved an impressive sixth place in the Shanghai Sprint on Saturday.
Asked about Tsunoda’s season start, Horner stated, “Yuki is now an experienced driver performing excellently. He was unlucky with strategy and a front-wing issue today. However, he also performed well last weekend.”
Tsunoda tested Verstappen’s 2024 championship-winning car at the end of last year in Abu Dhabi. However, it was widely reported that Red Bull had almost decided to replace Sergio Perez with Lawson.
Horner was asked if Tsunoda`s test performance would be more informative than his Racing Bulls form in determining if he could handle the Red Bull car better than Lawson.
He responded, “We analyze all available information and data. We have hundreds of engineers reviewing data from the car`s numerous sensors. We have extensive information.”
“Yuki performed very well in his test for us. It’s useful data, but it`s just one piece of the broader picture. We need to consider everything.”
