Why Red Bull must take the blame for Lawson’s performance – Liam Lawson is treading in the footsteps that others have taken and quickly lost their way. Over the winter the New Zealand born driver was promoted from the Red Bull sister team alongside Formula One champion Max Verstappen for 2025 – and its going horribly wrong.
The new Red Bull driver had eleven Grand Prix to his name before his first full season contract this year, having deputised for the injured Daniel Ricciardo in 2023 before eventually replacing him with six races to go last season.
Despite this experience, Lawson is finding the transition from one F1 car to another incredibly difficult and across the three qualifying sessions this year to date Liam has failed to make it out of the first session.
Lawson bemoans lack of familiarisation
On debut for Red Bull Lawson crashed out of the season opener in Melbourne before failing to make it from the back of the grid into the points in either the Sprint or the Chinese GP. Liam has been under the media microscope this weekend, with Sky F1 reporter cornering team boss Christian Horner and demanding: “You didn’t pay off Checo for this, did you? I mean, the point was to replace Checo with a quicker driver, and is he just not a quicker driver?”
Horner resorted to the usual mantra about “supporting our driver,” something we heard regularly as he was continually questioned over Sergio Perez’s future last season. On the whole Liam Lawson has taken responsibility for his shocking start to the season on the chin but given he was regularly challenging Yuki Tsuoda in 2024, clearly the RB21 is a difficult beast to master than the Racing Bull.
The Lawson debate took a turn on Sunday in China as questions were asked in the British media over why he had not been afforded the same level of testing as had Kimi Antonelli had in 2024. The Mercedes replacement for Lewis Hamilton is reported to have clocked up close to 10,000km in previous Mercedes cars last year as the team prepared him for the task ahead this year.
When asked how he saw his dire situation, Lawson replied after the Chinese grand Prix, “we’re two races in and we’re racing,” he told Sky. “It’s something that you’d love to have, 60 test days and things like that, and I know a lot of the other guys tested a lot out of season.
George Russell “is demotivating the entire Mercedes team”
Red Bull criticised for lack of Lawson testing
“Unfortunately, it’s not something we did. It’s not something we can do in this [year’s] car anyway. So it’s just one of those things, it’s not an excuse, it’s just something that I’ve got to get on top of as quickly as I can.”
There’s a clear difference between how at home with the Mercedes Antonelli feels when compared to Lawson and his Red bull and whilst this year’s car will be different from the two year old one Kimi tested extensively last year, there are carry over characteristics which are fundamental to each F1 team’s ground effect cars.
When asked, Bernie Collins ex-strategy engineer for Aston Martin said she didn’t believe it would have been the right thing to do to keep Lawson at the Racing Bulls for another half or full season.The Sky F1 presenter did however question why Red Bull did not offer Lawson the same kind of induction into the Red Bull car that Mercedes gave Antonelli.
“We’ve talked a lot about Kimi Antonelli and the testing he’s done at Mercedes. If he was doing the same testing in a Williams or in a Mercedes engine [[customer] car its not giving him the same experience. We’ve spoken about how the Red Bull car is really difficult to drive. Its a very specific car. Its not the same as the Racing Bulls.
Mercedes junior driver programme now the standard
“Why did Red Bull not do a similar programme to Mercedes with Liam Lawson? Why was he not doing like he said 60 test days last year in a four year old Red Bull? Its going to have the same characteristics. There’s no cost cap covering that. He could have stepped into the car in a much much stronger position than he now is.”
Karun Chandhok of Sky F1 outlined the different course of action Red Bull could have taken. “The problem is they promoted him into the Racing Bulls… you could have left Daniel there till the end of the season and given Liam the 10,000km that Antonelli had in a two year old car.”
“They will counter it I suppose saying we gave him eleven races instead of a testing programme. But I think that Mercedes have raised the bar in terms of rookie preparation and the rest will have to follow.”
In fact the FIA were so concerned about the cost to a team of putting 10,000km programme together for testing in ‘previous cars’ that they have this year restricted the amount of mileage each team is permitted to do.
Marko gives Lawson another weekend
Teams can now conduct a maximum of 20 days of TPC in any given year and the race drivers are allowed just four days not exceeding a maximum of 1000km. To compensate for the loss of TPC mileage for the team’s young drivers, the FIA has expanded the number of junior driver FP1 sessions which are mandatory for 2025.
The one junior FP1 test per car has been doubled to two meaning there are now four sessions available to the team for their reserve or junior drivers.
Red Bull Racing were once renown for their gold standard junior driver programme, although in recent times it appears the pipeline off potentials coming through to F1 has diminished. When Alex Albon was released from his Red Bull drive for 2021, the team was forced to resort to recruiting experience in the form Sergio Perez.
Whilst Dr. Helmut Marko suggested it would be prudent to wait until there have been three race weekends before Lawson is judged, Red Bull have a significant problem. Even were they to replace Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda, of 89 Grand Prix starts, there’s no guarantee he will find the RB21 any easier to manage than its current incumbent.
Why did Lawson not test in Abu Dhabi?
Who will take the rap back at the crisis meeting being held in Milton Keynes this week? Presumably Dr. Marko is responsible for the development of the young drivers,
To compound Red Bull’s difficult decisions ahead is the fact in the post season Abu Dhabi test it was Tsunoda and Hadjar who were given the drive in RB20. Thee was no baseline driver such as Verstappen or Perez for their performances to be measured against.
With Red Bull surely knowing that they were set to promote Liam Lawson, it would have made sense to ensure that he was one of the drivers in the Abu Dhabi test. Although this would have meant Tsunoda would have been disallowed under the FIA rules which state only one driver per team can participated who has completed more than two Grand Prix weekends.
Tsunoda enjoyed his time behind the wheel of the Red Bull as he explained: “You can physically feel why the RB20 has been fighting for a championship this year, it feels like a very different car to drive,” he said.
“We have had a very proactive day today so I am really happy with that. There is still a lot of learning that I have to do, but the team have done a great job of preparing such a great run today. It’s been such an enjoyable atmosphere in the garage.”
Tsunoda says “Red Bull suits my driving style”
Yet Yuki’s killer line which will haunt the board room in Milton Keynes as the management meet this week will be: “I feel like the car suits my driving style and I haven’t struggled much at all to adapt,” said Tsunoda.
Red Bull’s head of performance, Ben Waterhouse said after the test. “We successfully completed the priority test items on both cars with both drivers performing to a very high level and delivering exactly what we anticipated from them.
“Yuki provided excellent feedback on the various tests performed on the 2025 Pirelli tyres offering valuable insight on the tyre changes Pirelli will introduce for next year.”
This is a far cry from todays comments from the lost Liam Lawson, who reacted to his P15 finish saying: “Unfortunately I don’t really have time to get used to it [new setup], but I need to figure it out as quickly. I don’t have time to test the car and get used to it, but we’re in the season already, so each race we’re losing points. That’s more or less what I mean when I don’t have time.
“But I’m also not stupid and I know that, obviously, I’m here to perform – and if I’m not doing that, I’m not going to be around. I’m just focused on getting used to the car as quickly as I can.”
FIA crisis: F1 discuss retaining current F1 engines
The Chinese Grand Prix may well have been a bit of a borefest, but off track an incredible back story is taking shape. The FIA have now confirmed they are in talks to ditch the much hated F1 hybrid power units.
Formula One entered its hybrid era in 2014 as the global auto manufacturers predicted this would be the shape of the future of road cars. Yet due an acceleration in the net zero agenda, hybrid road cars are proving to be merely a bridge head to a full electric future.
Given that Formula One prides itself on being at the cutting edge of auto technology, the decision to continue with the hugely expensive and hefty hybrids is looking a poor one from the FIA. Not only will the 2026 power units continue with the hybrid technology, they will be upping the electrical power output to 50% of the total…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
Red Bull just seem to enjoy absolutely destroying young driver’s careers by placing them in a seat that absolutely NOBODY will ever be able to conquer! Why? because the entire car has been built to satisfy the whims, whinging and procrastinating of Max Verstappen!!
Helmet (sorry (not sorry), Helmut Marko is totally batshit bonkers crazy to even imagine that anyone other than Crashtappen is able to drive that white elephant.
Marko… stop destroying kids lives and trying to intimidate them (Isaac Hadjar) and put them down by disrespecting them and gaslighting them!! Don’t you think it’s time for you to be put out to pasture?!?! I do!