Liam Lawson given a ‘sacked’ warning  –  Liam Lawson has competed in Formula One over the past two seasons. Firstly as a stand in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo during the autumn of 2023 and then as the V-CARB’s full time driver for the last six races of last year following the sacking of ‘the honey badger.’

Whilst the New Zealand driver impressed when substituting for the Aussie in 2023, his performances against Tsunoda at the end of last season left a lot to be desired. He was beaten 6-0 in qualifying by his Japanese team mate and also outscored when it came to racing, yet Red Bull chose Lawson not Tsunoda as Sergio Perez’s replacement.

Yuki was riding high in Australia, ahead of Lawson in all three practice sessions then he qualified fifth whilst a number of driver errors meant Max’s new team mate failed to make it out of Q1 on Saturday.

 

 

 

Red Bull have a history of sacking drivers

Red Bull decided to break parc ferme on the number two Red Bull car in an attempt to give Lawson a more ‘race friendly’ setup on Sunday in Melbourne. But this failed to deliver and Liam spent the afternoon trailing around at the back of the field before crashing out on lap 47.

Lawson was in good company, only Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman of the ‘first race of the season rookie’ class would finish down under, yet Liam with eleven Grand Prix to his name should not be considered in the same inexperienced category as the likes of Hadjar, Bortoleto and Doohan.

Red Bull asked Lawson to stay on on his dry tyres along with Max Verstappen, but unlike his quadruple world champion team mate, Liam couldn’t keep his RB21 out of the wall. Yet even prior to that, Lawson’s lack of progress was obvious to all, something he blamed on the tyres.

“Yeah, we were really struggling to be honest. I had a lot of tyre issues with the front early on in the race, so it’s just been a tough weekend,” the New Zealnder said. Yet Lawson needs reminding of Red Bull’s past record of drivers who do not live up to expectations. The end can be swift and with Tsunoda looking like the best of the rest of the Red Bull stable behind Verstappen, time is short for the latest to be stabled alongside the world champion.

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Brundle warns of P45 for Lawson

The details of Liam’s difficult weekend included an air intake problem which meant he lost the entire hour of free practice three.Further, Albert Park is a track the Red Bull drover has never driven before, but again in the modern race car simulators, he should have become familiar with every inch of the layout.

Then what appeared to be a Perez style qualifying effort, Lawson never looked as though he would make it out of the bottom five. Checo did this six times last season and Lawson already has one to his name.

Sky F1 commentator, Martin Brundle, was succinct in his analysis of the but weekend for Lawson alongside max Verstappen. “Liam Lawson of Red Bull, in particular, will be very happy that we head immediately into another race week so that he can hopefully park the misery and errors he endured in Melbourne and put them right,” the ex-F1 racer wrote in his column.

Brundle also went on to recall those previously in Lawson’s position at Red Bull, who found themselves out of the car when results were worse than expected. “That team doesn’t do cuddles and reassuring words, and nor should they at this level,” Brundle added. “P45s are more their thing if you can’t keep Verstappen at least in view from time to time.”

Red Bull’s worrying analysis

 

 

 

Marko dismissive of Hadjar’s crying

Before his crash, Lawson was lapped by Verstappen and the P45 reference is about a document stating employment is terminated in the UK.

In terms of a cuddle, Racing Bull’s rookie Isack Hadjar received one from Lewis Hamilton’s dad, following his inexplicable exit from the field in Melbourne on the formation lap to the grid. Hadjar was seen in the pit lane in floods of tears having failed to make the start of his very first Grand Prix.

Dr. Helmut Marko was his usual sympathetic self when speaking to ORF after the race he said: “Isack Hadjar did a little bit of crying after his crash. That was a bit embarrassing.”

Yet unlike Lawson, the Racing Bull’s driver had prior to his off at turn two, put together a strong weekend in Melbourne. He was ninth and sixth quickest in the first two practice sessions before just missing out on a place in the top ten in qualifying by less than a tenth of a second.

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Zak Brown criticises Red Bull driver selection

Isack was the best placed of the ‘new drivers’ on the grid in P11, but he made it just one corner before hitting the wall and causing the start of the race to be abandoned.

Another positive for the Red bull stable was the performance of Yuki Tsunoda now in his fifth year with the sister team. Tsunoda was passed over in favour of Liam Lawson for the vacant Perez seat, but his showing in Melbourne is already causing comment.

CEO of McLaren, Zak Brown, picked out the Japanese driver in his review of the Australian GP. “I think it’s going to be a very exciting year,” he told Sky F1. “Yuki did a great job, [he’s] probably the guy that should be in the Red Bull if you look at how he’s performed. But they seem to make some strange driver choices,” Brown quipped about his rivals.

The Racing Bull’s Sporting Director, Alan Permian, was even more direct when asked about Tsunoda’s future. “I can already see from last year a step up in Yuki in terms of mentality and focus and feedback. He has already made a big step from last season, and having him help and mentor Isack, I think would be great.

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Racing Bulls aim to get Tsunoda promoted

“It’s also an opportunity for Yuki to show a different side as the experienced driver. My goal for Yuki and Yuki’s goal – they’re all aligned.

“We want to get him into the Red Bull seat, and if he performs well here, there’s no reason that he shouldn’t do that, but all we can do and I can do is help him perform as well as he can here, and if at the end of the season he’s done a good enough job to graduate, then everyone will be happy,” concluded Permaine.

Lawson needs to show a glimmer of fight this weekend in China, or the sands of time will quickly run out on his Formula One adventure. With Martin Brundle, usually slow to judgement, reckoning his P45 is not far away, Liam needs a Shanghai surprise to revive the dying embers of his F1 career.

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Who does last minute Chinese GP flexi wing ruling favour?

The topic is a recurring theme in Formula One and it is over the battle between the teams and the FIA to meet the sport’s governing body’s tests which define whether a team’s car is legal or not. Noises over outlawed flexible bodywork come around year after year and in 2024 it was McLaren who were under the microscope for what was described as their ‘mini-DRS.’

Theres a very good reason why the teams are obsessed with this aspect of F1 car design, because bodywork – particularly the front and rear wings – that flexes under the load of the increased air pressure reduces drag along the straights and increases top speed.

This is exactly what the DRS is designed to do. When the cars are corning they have a higher angle of wing attack to increase downforce, but as the DRS is opened the drag and downforce is dropped with the result the cars go quicker in a straight line… READ MORE