Last Updated on March 30 2025, 9:01 am

A week of turmoil: Red Bull’s internal crisis and the fallout from the Lawson demotion – The first race-free week of the 2025 Formula One season may have appeared calm on the surface, but underneath the skin of the Red Bull Racing organisation, tensions were boiling over. As fans took a breather after the opening rounds in Australia and Japan, the chaos behind closed doors came to the fore.

What began as murmurs of discontent turned into a full-blown power struggle within one of the sport’s most successful teams. The result was a sensational early-season driver reshuffle, with Liam Lawson becoming the first major casualty of Red Bull’s growing internal unrest. But according to new reports from England, and the Daily Mail in particular, there’s a lot more to the story than meets the eye.

 

 

A swift and shocking move

After just two Grands Prix, Red Bull made the stunning decision to demote Liam Lawson to the B team in favour of Yuki Tsunoda. While pressure to perform is nothing new in the fast-paced world of Formula One, such an abrupt change caused widespread surprise.

For a team that has often prided itself on nurturing young talent in the junior formulas, sometimes through trial by fire, the move was seen by many as both harsh and premature. But it turns out, according to the Daily Mail’s sources, that Lawson’s demotion was brewing even before the paddock packed up and left Melbourne.

The report claims that Red Bull’s always outspoken motorsport advisor, Helmut Marko, had already made up his mind after the Australian Grand Prix. Lawson’s 18th place qualifying result and subsequent race crash apparently sealed his fate in Marko’s eyes.

Despite only participating in two practice sessions earlier in the weekend and being new to the current car’s setup, Lawson’s lackluster pace and mistake in the race seemed unforgivable to the Austrian talent scout. Marko, who has been instrumental in shaping Red Bull’s junior programme for decades, reportedly considered Lawson’s performance inexcusable – and pushed for his immediate dismissal.

Lawson ‘paid the price for his arrogance’

 

Christian Horner’s internal battle

In what could be seen as a rare show of defiance, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is said to have intervened. Known for his sharp political instincts within the organisation, Horner is said to have vetoed Marko’s push to sack Lawson after just one race weekend.

Instead, Horner argued that the young New Zealander should be given another chance to prove his worth at the Chinese Grand Prix. It was a short and ultimately unsuccessful reprieve.

Lawson’s performance in Shanghai was slightly better, but still fell short of expectations. Struggling with a car that has proven notoriously difficult to handle for anyone not named Max Verstappen, Lawson could not deliver the type of breakthrough performance Horner had hoped for. With no meaningful results to show and internal pressure mounting, Horner was left with no choice but to accept the inevitable. Lawson was dropped from the main team and reassigned to VCARB.

Verstappen exit clause now active

 

Max Verstappen enters the fray

Adding to the tension, Red Bull’s star driver and reigning world champion Max Verstappen has quietly voiced his disapproval of the team’s decision. The Dutchman, who has largely avoided Red Bull’s internal politics in recent years, is reportedly unhappy with the treatment of Lawson. According to the Daily Mail, Verstappen believes the move was “too harsh” and is concerned about the instability it will bring to the team dynamic.

Perhaps more interestingly, Verstappen is not entirely happy with the arrival of Yuki Tsunoda as his new team-mate. While Tsunoda has shown flashes of brilliance during his time with VCARB (and its previous iteration, AlphaTauri), he remains a raw talent – one prone to emotional outbursts and inconsistency.

Thriving on predictability and a team built around his driving style, Verstappen is said to be less than enthusiastic about adjusting to a new teammate mid-season, especially one he reportedly doesn’t see as a long-term solution.

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A deeper issue: the flawed RB21

Beyond the personalities and politics, the underlying problem may be far more systemic. The RB21, Red Bull’s 2025 challenger, has proven to be an enigma.

While Verstappen has managed to squeeze competitive pace out of the car, few others can say the same. The car’s narrow operating window, combined with its twitchy rear end and complex aerodynamic demands, has made it a nightmare for any driver lacking Verstappen’s extraordinary adaptability.

Lawson’s failure in this context may have less to do with his potential and more to do with the sheer difficulty of taming the RB21. In fact, even seasoned engineers inside the Red Bull garage admit that the car was designed with Verstappen’s specific driving style in mind – a fact that might explain why any teammate placed alongside him struggles to get anywhere near his performance level. This reality, if left unaddressed, could become a critical fault line in the team’s season.

Marko threatens to walk away from Red Bull’s junior academy job

 

Looking ahead: What’s next for Red Bull?

If Red Bull thought that demoting Lawson would be the end of their internal strife, they were probably wrong. While Tsunoda’s arrival provides a temporary solution, it also raises new questions. Can the Japanese driver offer the consistency needed to complement Verstappen and keep the Constructors’ Championship within reach? Or will the mismatch in driving styles and personalities only exacerbate the team’s fragility?

There are also broader implications for Red Bull’s driver development program. The quick hook on Lawson sends a strong, perhaps chilling, message to the rest of the young drivers waiting in the wings. In the past, Red Bull’s junior pipeline was seen as a golden opportunity. Now it increasingly resembles a high-stakes gauntlet, where one bad weekend can mean the end of a Formula One career.

The power dynamics within Red Bull are also coming under increasing scrutiny. Helmut Marko’s influence, while long respected, has also been the source of controversy.

With Horner reportedly pushing back against Marko’s more reactionary impulses, a potential rift is forming at the top of the team. If such disagreements continue to play out in public, Red Bull could face the kind of internal power struggle that has plagued other top teams in the past.

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A team at a crossroads

Red Bull Racing enters the next phase of the 2025 Formula 1 season not just with a new driver line-up, but with fractures visible at nearly every level of the organization. From a car that only one man can drive to team leadership wrestling for control, the situation is far more volatile than it appears on the timesheets.

Liam Lawson, once seen as a future cornerstone of Red Bull’s success, now finds himself trying to salvage his career from the B team. Christian Horner, despite his political victory in delaying Lawson’s exit, may now be seen as lacking the upper hand in key decisions.

Further, some must question Helmut Marko and his extreme impulsiveness with the Lawson sacking, especially after just Australia had he got his way. His advanced years and alleged impulsive mindset, something akin to that of an older adult with an undiagnosed cognitive disorder one shall not mention.

And Max Verstappen, the team’s anchor, is showing signs of discontent that could prove costly if left unaddressed.

The explosive details emerging from this race-free week have shown that the biggest battles in F1 are often fought off the track. Red Bull may still be the reigning champions, but within their own walls the race for control, stability and future success is just beginning.

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MORE F1 NEWS – Lawson ‘paid the price for his arrogance’

Even as his Red Bull Formula One dream was crumbling around him, Liam Lawson was defiant to the last. After the Kiwi crashed out of qualifying in China, Tsunoda was asked if he would be ready to step up to the Red Bull team come Japan. “Yeah, 100 per cent. I mean, the car is faster,” said the Japanese driver. 

When told of his ex-team mates comments, Lawson spat back: “I’ve raced him for years, raced him in junior categories and beat him — and I did in F1 as well, so he can say whatever he wants,” Lawson said in not the most media savvy response to being baited.

The New Zealand born driver opened a can of worms with his claims given his record over Tsunoda is less than convincing. The pair have been racing on and off since 2019 where that season Lawson beat Tsunoda in the Euro Formula Open championship finishing in second, two places ahead of his Japanese rival… READ MORE