Liam Lawson may not have been the most under-pressure driver at the start of the 2025 Formula 1 season but he’s learned the hard way what a difficult job being Max Verstappen’s teammate is.
Red Bull plucked Liam Lawson from their junior team over the winter after releasing Sergio Perez from his contract.
Team principal Christian Horner had high hopes for the New Zealander after a promising start to his F1 career.
Horner chose Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda despite the 25-year-old superior experience due to his potential and his confident mindset.
Being Max Verstappen’s teammate has proved to be next to impossible for several drivers but Lawson may have reached that point sooner than any of his predecessors.
Lawson’s complaints about the RB21 echo Verstappen’s thoughts but the gap between the two racers has grown to the point where the 23-year-old is at risk of losing his seat.
A swap between Tsunoda and Lawson has been suggested ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix with Red Bull set to decide their driver line-up next week.
READ MORE: Who is Red Bull Racing F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know
Liam Lawson’s lack of experience not an excuse for Christian Horner
Journalist Ronald Vording was speaking about Lawson’s future on the Motorsport NL YouTube channel after the race in Shanghai.
He shared the message he had received from Horner and said: “Red Bull is at least thinking about whether a driver change between Lawson and then probably Tsunoda is necessary.
“Two crucial things to report. Firstly, no decision has been made yet.
“Secondly, the outcome is also not yet certain but the news is that Red Bull is considering such a driver change.
“We also talked about that with Christian Horner during the media session and he said: ‘We’ve got the data from two race weekends, we are going to analyze all that data and on that basis, we will make a choice.’
“There was something else that was brought up that I mentioned earlier. Lawson hasn’t driven in Japan yet so that will be a real test but actually, Horner didn’t think that was relevant.
Ciao, Ollie 😁#F1 #ChineseGP @HaasF1Team pic.twitter.com/WSVb3brkzO
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 23, 2025
“He said, ‘These guys come up to speed so quickly these days that shouldn’t matter if you’ve driven somewhere or not.’
“So, they’re not going to factor that in, they will make the decision based on the data.
“They might think they have to do something but on a personal level it’s extremely difficult.
“Horner also said that Red Bull have a responsibility towards Liam and you can’t just throw him under the bus after two race weekends.”
READ MORE: Know all about Red Bull team principal Christian Horner with net worth to wife
Max Verstappen isn’t keen on Liam Lawson’s proposed Red Bull swap
Lawson was disappointed to learn he was the only driver never to race in Melbourne and wasn’t the only driver to find the barriers in difficult conditions.
However, plenty of rookies were learning the track in Shanghai and Lawson’s complaints were more about the car than his lack of experience.
If Red Bull choose to replace Lawson at this stage of the season, plenty of questions will be asked about the decision-making process at the top of the team.
Horner and chief advisor Helmut Marko spent months considering their options when it became clear that Perez wasn’t performing at the required level.
Max recovers to finish P4. After starting from the pit lane, Liam finishes P15.
Result 🏁 PIA, NOR, RUS, Max P4, LEC, HAM, OCO, ANT, ALB, BEA. Liam P15.#F1 || #ChineseGP 🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/rJTdMZmjam
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 23, 2025
It has to be remembered that Red Bull extended Perez’s contract just six months before letting him go and the call to promote Lawson may immediately backfire.
Verstappen is unhappy with the decision to promote Tsunoda into Lawson’s seat but not because he doesn’t think the Japanese driver is ready to race for Red Bull.
Instead, he wants the RB21 to be updated so that it has a bigger operating window and gives whoever his teammate is more chance to unleash its potential.
Lawson is in a difficult position but if he is dropped, then the blame has to rest solely on Horner, Marko and technical director Pierre Wache for placing yet another driver in an almost impossible situation.
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