Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has responded to speculation that Liam Lawson could be axed from the F1 grid just two races into the season
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has addressed Liam Lawson’s future amid speculation he’s set to be axed.
Lawson is under mounting pressure after a disastrous first two races in his Red Bull career. The 23-year-old was promoted from the VCARB seat to partner Max Verstappen for the 2025 season, but his start could scarcely have gone worse.
After crashing out of the season-opening race in Australia, Lawson finished P14 in Saturday’s sprint before qualifying last for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Changes to the car outside of Parc Ferme and Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly’s disqualification meant the Kiwi finished P15 before being promoted to 12th.
Following Saturday’s frustration, Lawson admitted he “does not have time” and outlet Motorsport has reported that he might not be given a chance to change his fortunes, with Red Bull bosses considering swapping Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda for the Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.
Tsunoda was overlooked for Lawson in the summer after spending four years in Red Bull’s sister team. While no decision has been announced, Horner refused to rule out a change.
Horner said: “There’s always going to be speculation in the paddock. As I say, we’ve only just finished the race here. We’ll take away the info and have a good look at it.”
Carefully avoiding making any definitive statements, Horner suggested the Kiwi’s form is a major concern. “I think Liam still has got potential, we’re just not realising that at the moment. I think the problem for him is, he’s had a couple of really tough weekends, he’s got all the media on his back,” Horner said.
“The pressure just naturally grows in this business, and I feel very sorry for him. You can see it’s very tough on him at the moment.
“He’s a young guy, we’ve got a duty to look after him and we’re going to do the best that we can to support him.
“Liam’s still a very capable driver. We know that, just for whatever reason, we’re not seeing him able to deliver that at the moment.”
Following a dismal qualifying session, Horner revealed why Lawson’s car was pulled from Parc Ferme, he added: “I think Liam’s had a tough couple of races, a tough weekend here. We elected to take him off the grid out of Parc Ferme to do a significant set-up change and so we’ve managed to get 56 laps of reasonable data from that.
“Obviously, we’ll take that away, we’ll have a good look at it, and, as a group, we’ll do our best to support him.
“Liam is obviously confidence-wise struggling with the car at the moment, which is why we made some significant changes today to see if we could find a more confidence-inspiring set-up for him.”