Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said his engineers’ concern over the mental state of Liam Lawson led to the driver being axed only two races into the season.
Lawson’s disastrous performances in the Australian and Chinese grands prix in which he failed to collect a single point — crashing out in Melbourne and finishing 12th in Shanghai — had been “really affecting [him] quite badly”, Horner told Sky Sports.
It is understood that Lawson apologised to the team on several occasions across the first two race weekends as he struggled to get to grips with the RB21 car.
The 23-year-old was subsequently replaced by Yuki Tsunoda before the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend — with Lawson dropping down to take Tsunoda’s place with Red Bull’s sister team the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls.
“It was something that was very clear to the engineering side within the team, just how much Liam was struggling with it all, and you could see that weight upon his shoulders,” Horner said. “We have to accept, I think, we were asking too much of him too soon.”
The principal added that “very concerned” engineers had come to him to express doubts and this contributed to the decision to demote the New Zealander to Racing Bulls. Lawson was only chosen to replace Sergio Pérez as Red Bull’s second driver three months ago.
“Of course, it’s horrible because you’re taking away someone’s dreams and aspirations, but sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind,” Horner added. “I think that in this instance, this is not the end for Liam. I was very clear with him that it’s [just] a sample of two races.”
Rumours were rife in the paddock that Lawson’s place was under threat. Red Bull — who surrendered the constructors’ title to McLaren last season — have been through a whole host of drivers in trying to find Max Verstappen a team-mate, including Pérez, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon.
But despite Red Bull’s revolving door policy, Lawson admitted he did not expect his demotion.
“It’s not something that I saw coming,” said Lawson, who drove for Red Bull’s sister team at the back end of last season.
“The discussions we were having as well, I think, weren’t really leaning in this direction, so it was definitely not something that I expected,” he said. “It’s not so much a driving style or something like that. It’s just literally adjusting, and for me, I just didn’t have the time to do that.”
Japanese Grand Prix
Sunday, 7am
TV Sky Sports Main Event
