Christian Horner admitted Formula 1 is a “pressure business” when asked if Liam Lawson would be given time to perform at Red Bull.

Lawson started from the pit lane for the Chinese Grand Prix, but was unable to make much of an impression in the field as he crossed the line 15th, while Max Verstappen took P4.

Christian Horner on Liam Lawson: ‘Formula 1 is a pressure business’

Lawson qualified 20th and last in both Sprint and Grand Prix qualifying in China, results he admitted were “not good enough” even in his early days as a Red Bull driver.

He admitted himself “I don’t have time” when it comes to getting up to speed at the ‘senior’ Red Bull squad, with the two Racing Bulls drivers also in the Red Bull stable.

With Verstappen second in the Drivers’ Championship after the first two races, Lawson has yet to get off the mark with his new team, and when the Red Bull team principal was asked if he would get time to perform, he admitted there is “time pressure”, through which he hopes Lawson will respond.

“Well, look, Formula 1 is a pressure business, isn’t it? And there’s always time pressure – and he knows that,” Horner replied to Sky F1.

“Hopefully, he’ll respond accordingly, and we’ll see where we go.

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“Liam is a great little racer. He gets his elbows out, he races hard, he’s just struggling at the moment finding the limit with this car, getting the most out of the car – and, of course, as a team, as a group, we’re looking to support him in the in the best way that we can. So he’ll be in the debrief, giving all that information to the engineers very shortly.”

One theory behind Lawson’s lack of performance relative to Verstappen – posited by the four-time World Champion himself – was that the optimal operating window of the Red Bull RB21, while improved compared to its predecessor, remains extremely narrow, with the Racing Bulls machine easier for drivers to handle.

When asked if he would enable driveability at a potential cost to performance, Horner was unequivocal in his response.

“You’re always going for ultimate performance,” Horner replied.

“Fast cars are never easy cars to drive, but we know that there’s performance that we need to find, and we need both drivers up there if there’s to be any chance of fighting for a Constructors’ Championship, and at the very least with the Drivers’ Championship as well.

“You need to have a second car in play. You can’t just do it one-legged. So, we want as a team, collectively, to make sure that we’re getting the best out of both drivers and getting both cars as far up the grid as we can.”

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