Red Bull’s brutal decision to drop Liam Lawson after two Grands Prix has gathered a lot of attention in the Formula 1 paddock, as the team figures out where to go after a disappointing start to 2025.
The Milton Keynes outfit was managing expectations in pre-season testing when technical director Pierre Wache admitted the RB21 “did not respond” how they expected in Bahrain.
Red Bull was expected to be the second-best car after Ferrari appeared to struggle with tyre wear and Mercedes were off the pace, however, things turned out to be worse than expected for Lawson.
In two races he failed to make it out of Q1 and was over half a second off Max Verstappen. A crash in his first race at Melbourne and failure to progress higher than P15 after starting from the pit lane in China, led to Red Bull’s Thai owners expressing their concerns behind the scenes.
Lawson was subsequently dropped in favour of Yuki Tsunoda for the Japanese GP onwards, with the team expecting his wealth of experience to help with their car problems.
There are many theories as to why Lawson struggled despite Red Bull backing him as the right man to replace Sergio Perez in the winter break, but Karun Chandhok has explained where they went wrong and Mercedes went right with Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Karun Chandhok thinks Mercedes approach ‘underlined’ where Red Bull went wrong with Liam Lawson
Antonelli arrived in F1 with limited experience at Mercedes compared to Lawson, who had already completed 11 Grands Prix with Racing Bulls.
Where Mercedes made the difference was running Antonelli in old cars throughout 2024 and during the winter break, under F1’s ‘Testing of Previous Cars’ (TPC) rules.
TPC runs are not covered under the cost cap, which means teams can run an unlimited amount. Antonelli did several thousand kilometers, which helped him significantly in one key area according to Chandhok.
“Underlines that Mercedes approach to 10,000km of testing with Kimi Antonelli to adjust to the car’s characteristics is the right way to prep a rookie,” wrote Chandhok on Instagram.
Red Bull wants Liam Lawson to rebuild his confidence at Racing Bulls
Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner has not ruled out putting Lawson back into the team, having told him to focus on regaining his confidence after a tough spell at the team.
F1 Oversteer understands that a swap could still happen later in the season, but with Honda paying the team millions and giving them money off their final power unit payment, it looks unlikely.
Lawson now holds the record for the shortest driver career at Red Bull, having only lasted two races which is one less than Robert Doornbos, who replaced Christian Albers at the end of the 2006 season.
He will need to spend the rest of the season improving at Racing Bulls if he stands a chance of rejoining Red Bull in the future, otherwise, his F1 career could go the same way as Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon.
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