Christian Horner was put on the spot about replacing Sergio Perez with Liam Lawson in China, after a second successive P20 qualifying placing.

Lawson lined up in the final grid spot for the Sprint on Saturday, and will do so again on Sunday after being knocked out at the first hurdle for Grand Prix qualifying later in the day.

Christian Horner: Liam Lawson had ‘tough day in the office’

Lawson had never driven a lap of the Shanghai International Circuit before this weekend in what is only his second race with Red Bull, though the man himself admitted his session was “not good enough” as he gets set to line up as last of the runners on Sunday.

He moved up to 14th place by the end of the Sprint, and faces another challenge to move into the points for the Chinese Grand Prix, and while it is still early in his career, Horner was challenged on replacing the experience of Sergio Perez with Lawson after qualifying.

“It’s been a tough day in the office for him today,” Horner said of Lawson to Sky F1 after qualifying.

“So we’ll have a good look at it and go through it and obviously try and give him the best car we can for tomorrow.”

But when put to him by Sky’s Ted Kravitz that Sergio Perez was replaced at the team to have a faster driver in the car, Horner was asked if Lawson is showing himself to be a ‘quicker driver’ than Perez at this point.

Horner did not address the subject directly, but replied: “As I say, we’ll have a good look at it, and we’ll do what we can to help him.”

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At the front of the field, however, Max Verstappen qualified fourth for Red Bull as he looks to earn another podium to begin his latest title defence.

Verstappen himself admitted that the three cars in front of him, the McLaren duo and George Russell, were faster than his Red Bull in qualifying, but team principal Horner believes the Chinese Grand Prix opens itself up to opportunities on the strategic front, given the sensitivity of tyres around the circuit.

On the overall performance, Horner said: “It’s pretty tight at the front there, and I think we tried a few things to hopefully help in the race tomorrow.

“Tenth and a half or so off the pole, we were purple in the first sector, but unfortunately, we didn’t quite have enough in the tyre at the end of the lap. So, yeah, encouraging.

“These tyres are so sensitive, and we saw in the sprint race earlier, different graining, different cars working in different ways, and so I don’t think pole position is essential for this race.

“It’s all going to be about strategy, and it’s going to be about that front left tyre.”

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