Martin Brundle highlighted Liam Lawson and Jack Doohan for their “fairly desperate racing” in China, and they are likely “unfairly feeling exposed” at this early stage of the season.

The former F1 driver hinted “there could well be changes” on the grid, too, with Lawson now reported to be set to be replaced by Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Martin Brundle highlights ‘fairly desperate racing’ during Chinese Grand Prix

PlanetF1.com understands Lawson is likely to be replaced at Red Bull after only two races at the ‘senior’ team, having qualified P20 in both Sprint and Grand Prix qualifying in China, while also failing to get out of Q1 in Australia – with an announcement possible later this week.

While he recovered places in the race, he was unable to score points at the weekend.

The same applies to Alpine’s Jack Doohan, who was also heading into the season as having been seen as under pressure after the arrival of Franco Colapinto as reserve driver at the team.

“There was some fairly desperate racing, blocking, and overtaking going on down the field,” Brundle wrote in his post-China column for Sky Sports.

“Not least by Liam Lawson and Jack Doohan who are in many ways unfairly feeling exposed in their drives so early in the season. There could well be changes.”

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In Doohan’s case, he has spoken of his confidence in his early performances, however, despite earning four penalty points on his Super Licence for two on-track infringements over the weekend.

He joked he would remind himself of the sport’s driving guidelines while looking to move forwards into Suzuka and beyond, with the team being “super happy” with how things have been so far.

“I think, on average, we’re quite similar – especially on one-lap pace, plus or minus a tenth, depending on the session,” he said of his performances alongside team-mate Pierre Gasly.

“So there’s a lot of positives to take forward. I just have to refresh myself, fill in the driver guidelines, so I stop having any issues.

“I think for me, there’s a lot of positives. We haven’t had that result quite yet to really show it, but the inner circle understands that, and I think that’s what’s most important.

“The guys are super happy in the team, for sure. Flavio [Briatore], Oli [Oakes], Luca [De Meo], our backers, they’re going to be wanting points.

“So when the car is going to get there, we’re going to have to make sure that we’re on it to ensure that we can maximise that.

“But for now, we’re going to have to keep working, keep our heads down, and hopefully Suzuka is a better track for us.”

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