Christian Horner has ‘quite clearly’ been proven wrong about one thing he said Liam Lawson could do at Red Bull

Liam Lawson looks set to be axed by Red Bull just two races into his career with the team.

The Kiwi driver has had a miserable start to the 2025 F1 season. Lawson crashed out of the Australian Grand Prix after being knocked out in Q1.

Things got even worse at the Chinese Grand Prix as he qualified last for both the Sprint and the main race. The 23-year-old finished 15th but was bumped up to P12 after Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly were disqualified after the race.

Lawson has failed to score a point in 2025 which has put Red Bull already 42 points behind McLaren in the constructors’ championship. This has led to speculation that the New Zealander could be demoted back to Racing Bulls for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit are set to hold an emergency meeting this week to discuss how to solve their problems and whether to bring Yuki Tsunoda into the team. Red Bull may have already decided to drop Lawson ahead of the meeting.

Many would have argued the Japanese driver deserved the second Red Bull seat more given his experience. Christian Horner put his faith in Lawson’s ability after impressing in 2023 and 2024 – but his judgement has ‘quite clearly’ been proven wrong.

Christian Horner felt Liam Lawson’s driving style was ‘more aligned’ with Max Verstappen than Sergio Perez

The 23-year-old was brought in as the replacement for Sergio Perez. The Mexican was dropped by Red Bull last year after finishing eighth in the drivers’ championship and costing the team the constructors’ title – he did not finish in the top five after Miami.

Despite having spent four years with Racing Bulls and beating Daniel Ricciardo and Lawson in the teammate battle in 2024, Tsunoda was snubbed by the latter. Horner felt Lawson displayed ‘the right mindset’ to go up against Max Verstappen in 2025.

The Red Bull boss also said, as journalist Ian Parkes recalled, that Lawson’s driving style was ‘more aligned’ to Verstappen than his predecessor. This has ‘quite clearly’ been proven wrong by the Kiwi driver’s start to the season.

At this point in 2024, Perez finished second in the two opening races in Bahrain and Jeddah when it was known he was struggling with the car. Speaking via RacingNews365, Parkes pointed out that many would assume the RB21 would be ‘more suited’ to Lawson – it has been anything but.

“I remember that one of the points Christian made, and it was actually at the F1 75 launch event that we had in mid-February.

“He did a round table media session there and he made clear at that point, and actually I also recall he made clear as well when we did a media session with him just before Christmas in December.

“He made clear at that point that Liam’s driving style was more aligned with Max than Checo Perez.

“So, you’d assumed from that comment that the car was going to be more suited to Liam and so far, that just hasn’t been the case. We can quite clearly see that.”

READ MORE: Who is Red Bull Racing F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know

Does Liam Lawson deserve to race in the Japanese Grand Prix with Red Bull?

Lawson will have the shortest Red Bull career in F1 history if he is dropped before the Japanese Grand Prix. His demotion back to Racing Bulls is hardly surprising, but it is an incredibly harsh decision.

The Kiwi driver has raced at two tracks that he had never driven before ahead of the respective weekends in Melbourne and Shanghai. Furthermore, the RB21 has proven to be a difficult car to handle even for Verstappen as it clearly is not up to scratch compared to McLaren and Mercedes.

Suzuka is a familiar circuit for Lawson from his Super Formula days, which if given the chance, would be a more accurate representation of where he is at with Red Bull.

If he fails to perform there, the team have a serious problem that needs addressing. The issue – likely more for Tsunoda than Lawson – is that Red Bull does not know how to fix the RB21.

The Japanese driver will be inheriting Lawson’s problems and could fare no better than the 23-year-old. Whatever Red Bull choose to do, it is not looking good for whichever driver is sitting in their second seat.