Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has claimed that “sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind” in response to Liam Lawson’s rapid exit from the team.
The Horner-led team decided to demote Lawson after the first two Grand Prix weekends of the 2025 season, during which he struggled to get the expected performance out of the car. In Australia, the New Zealander was one of many who crashed out in the wet weather, and his woes continued as he qualified in P20 for both the Chinese Grand Prix and sprint race.
Speaking to Sky Sports during a showrun event in Tokyo with both Red Bull and its sister team, Racing Bulls, Horner gave more details on the reasons for Lawson’s demotion to the latter. He explained:
“Of course, it’s horrible because you’re taking away someone’s dreams and aspirations, but sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind, and I think that in this instance, this is not the end for Liam.
“I was very clear with him, is that it’s a sample of two races. I think that we’ve asked too much of you too soon. We have to accept; I think we were asking too much of him too soon.
“And so this is for him to, again, nurture that talent that we know that he has, back in the Racing Bulls seat, whilst giving Yuki the opportunity and looking to make use of the experience that he has.”
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, Laurent Mekies, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Peter Fox – Getty Images
Lawson now joins fellow rookie driver Isack Hadjar at Racing Bulls for the Japanese Grand Prix weekend. The Kiwi driver commented to the media, including Motorsport.com, in Suzuka:
“It is maybe something I wasn’t expecting so early but something that obviously is not my decision.
“For me, it’s about making the most of this opportunity now and still being in Formula 1, I still have that.
“I think I was more surprised. It’s very early in the season and I would say I was hoping to go to a track that I’d raced before and have a clean weekend to have a chance like that.
“But the decision obviously was made when I was told. So, although it was tough to hear, I had one or two days to think about it.”
