Liam Lawson gave Red Bull ‘no real choice’ but to make Yuki Tsunoda swap after Chinese Grand Prix paddock behaviour

The contrast of Liam Lawson’s mood heading into the Australian Grand Prix and leaving the circuit in Shanghai was staggering.

Red Bull has been a brutal environment for drivers for quite some time, with Max Verstappen destroying teammate after teammate.

Sergio Perez survived for four seasons before being dropped by Red Bull, but Liam Lawson wasn’t so lucky.

Lawson was hailed for his self-belief by Christian Horner as one of the reasons why he was promoted over teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

Unfortunately, Lawson suffered setbacks in pre-season testing and free practice in Australia, reducing his already limited time to get up to speed in the RB21.

After back-to-back P20 qualification performances in Shanghai, Red Bull made drastic changes to Lawson’s set-up to try and help him get to grips with a car that’s even proven tricky for Verstappen to extract the maximum performance out of.

Lawson sounded desperate on the team radio after the race in China, lamenting how awkward its balance was, and after the race, it was clear that he knew his future was in doubt.

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

Liam Lawson’s body language at the Chinese Grand Prix was a serious concern for Red Bull

Journalist Lawrence Barretto was in the paddock in Shanghai and speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast in the build-up to the next Grand Prix in Japan.

He was asked about Lawson’s predicament and said: “I think that if Liam hadn’t qualified 20th in both Spring Qualifying and Qualifying in China, I don’t think we’d be talking about it.

“It’s just that a Red Bull has never qualified that low before. And I think that they could see with Liam that his confidence was so, so low that they had no real choice but to swap them over.

“But I think that actually they helped him in a funny sort of way because imagine if he’d gone to Japan where he’s run really well and he had a shocker there as well, at least if they move him out now into a Racing Bull that is performing really strongly, he could potentially have a really good weekend in Japan and kind of then firstly say to Red Bull, look, I haven’t lost it, I’ve still got it.

“You know what, Liam didn’t look anyone in the eye over the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

“His head was down the whole time, and he was such a confident guy. I remember he was bouncing around when he got that drive for Red Bull last year.

“He was the happiest, I think I’ve ever seen a young racer driver get an F1 drive. And in China, he looked broken, like actually broken, and I was worried for him.”

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Liam Lawson has to bounce back with Racing Bulls to save his Formula 1 career

Although it won’t be easy for Lawson to mentally reset after such a short stint with Red Bull, he’s going to have another chance to prove himself at Racing Bulls.

Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar have proven already this season that the VCARB 02 is a much easier car to drive than Red Bull’s latest creation.

Not only that, but unless Red Bull make an audacious bid for Franco Colapinto, Lawson should be safe in his current seat for the foreseeable future.

Red Bull have high hopes for Arvid Lindblad, but the 17-year-old is only one round into his maiden F2 season, and it would be in the team’s best interest to allow him to see out one campaign at that level before promoting him.

Lawson has proven himself at Racing Bulls in the past, and while Hadjar has started 2025 very positively, he needs to have the confidence in his own abilities that he can come out on top of the French rookie this year.

If he doesn’t, then he’ll become the latest Red Bull driver to be let go as the conveyor belt of talent continues to churn.