What about the continued underperformance of the car? Who is carrying the can for that?
The drivers, Max Verstappen included, keep saying there are long standing problems there that haven’t been addressed. But instead of a technical overhaul we get distractions like this- Lawson being made a scapegoat - after just two races! Ridiculous.
And if the drivers who aren’t Max really are all so rubbish, why has Red Bull not moved heaven and earth to sign better ones?
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It increasingly feels like Red Bull is a sinking ship with too many leaks to fix. Eventually, it’s going to capsize, and if that team cannot quickly find solutions I would expect Verstappen will hop off the overturned hull and be off to Mercedes (or whichever is the best port in a storm for him) the first chance he gets.
Imagine how bad Red Bull would look without Verstappen there. This is a team in crisis that just doesn’t look like it knows what it’s doing anymore.
Liam Lawson loses his drive at Red Bull. Illustration / Paul Slater
‘Damaging for the team’
Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer
Hiring Lawson was always going to be a massive punt for Red Bull, which so far hasn’t paid off, and now Tsunoda can see the realities of the situation for himself. But it will surely be just too alluring to move to a team that has taken Verstsappen to four titles. If things go right for you, then you can become a bona fide frontrunner, and you have to believe in yourself as a driver and think you can make the difference.
On the flip side, if Tsunoda jumps in and is no better than Sergio Perez was at the end of last year, it will be not only damaging for him, but even more damaging for the team, who will struggle to collect points, and have difficulty trying to convince anyone else to come and race their car.
It’s a tough decision to make, and it seems Red Bull have backed themselves into a corner. Having overlooked Yuki at the end of last year, I’d be tempted to stick it out with Liam for a little longer and see if he can find his feet, at a circuit he knows well on a conventional weekend for once. If they gamble with Yuki, then it simply has to work.
Max Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mates
‘Quite simply extraordinary’
Andrew Benson, BBC
The decision to promote Lawson to Red Bull, alongside Max Verstappen, after just 11 grands prix spread across two seasons was already questionable.
To demote him back to second team Racing Bulls after just two races in a swap with Tsunoda – who was passed over only three months ago – is, quite simply, extraordinary.
It raises serious questions about Red Bull’s management, primarily team principal Horner.
Liam Lawson and Christian Horner. Photo / Getty Images
‘Would Sainz have made any difference’
Jack Benyon, TheRace.com
Honestly, at this point, does it even matter who Red Bull puts in this car alongside Max Verstappen?
It’s made enough competent drivers look weak, and that’s mainly due to the excessive demands of driving this car which is often unfairly labelled as ‘the way Max likes it’ but even he has repeatedly lambasted it and asked for improvements the team hasn’t been quick enough to react to.
Last year I thought it was absolutely bizarre and a detriment to Red Bull not to put Carlos Sainz in the car. Now I wonder if a seat at Williams – once labelled a big step down for him – was a massive let off for Sainz!
Would Sainz have made any difference to Lawson? Not because he isn’t good enough, but because past achievement in F1 seems to be irrelevant when getting in Red Bull’s roulette wheel of a car.
‘Imagine if he qualifies in front of Max’
Gary Anderson, TheRace.com
I’m not saying [Lawson] is a Max Verstappen beater and in the same car very few are. However, I believe he is a top 10 qualifier and a reasonable points scorer at worst. It’s the team and the car that is destroying him mentally at the moment.
Lay the law down to him and give him a chance, that’s the minimum Red Bull needs to do. However moving him back to Racing Bulls team may just be more egg on the Red Bull management’s face. Just imagine if he qualifies in front of Max at Suzuka.
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