Reiterating his opinion that Liam Lawson looked like a punch-drunk boxer, Helmut Marko believes it was missing FP3 at the Australian Grand Prix followed by a Sprint that led to the driver’s spiral.

Red Bull will field a changed line-up for both of their Formula 1 teams in Suzuka this weekend, the team having made the call to swap Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda.

Liam Lawson has returned for Racing Bull after just two races

The decision was made in the wake of a difficult Chinese Grand Prix weekend for Lawson, where the New Zealander was slowest of all in both qualifying outings and wasn’t able to recover to the points.

Bringing his tally to three Q1 exits and no points, Red Bull opted to switch him with Tsunoda, who has been a permanent feature in Q3 and also has three points. He would’ve scored more were it not for Racing Bull’s strategy blunder in Australia and a broken front wing in China.

It raises the question of what went wrong, given that just three months prior, Red Bull had chosen Lawson over Tsunoda.

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Having decided to part ways with Sergio Perez when his F1 2024 struggles cost Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, the team overlooked Tsunoda for the RB21 drive and put Lawson in the car.

“I think the feeling within the team is that the trajectory Liam is on has more potential, which is why we’ve taken that route,” team principal Christian Horner explained at the time.

However, two races into the F1 2025 season, Red Bull made the shocking decision to swap Tsunoda and Lawson.

Marko believes there were three key moments in Lawson’s demise.

“Yes, it was surprising with Lawson,” the Red Bull motorsport advisor told Motorsport.com of the New Zealander’s spiral. “But there were unfortunate circumstances.

“Even during the pre-season tests in Bahrain, he had technical issues that limited his mileage. That third practice session in Australia was a very crucial point. And then on top of that, another sprint weekend.”

Lawson lost track time during vital moments in his early Red Bull days with teething gremlins and rain limiting his running during pre-season testing, while a power unit problem meant he covered only two laps in FP3 in Australia. That the next race in China was a sprint with just one practice hour didn’t help when he time behind the wheel was what he most needed.

“Still,” Marko continued, “you have to deliver. And while Lawson was on a downward trajectory, Yuki is now in his fifth year and, as I said, gives a very strong overall impression. And we believe he will be able to handle it.”

Marko confirmed the decision to swap Tsunoda and Lawson around was “unanimous” amongst Red Bull’s higher-ups, who met on Tuesday after the Chinese Grand Prix weekend to discuss the driver situation.

“Well, it was a unanimous decision on our part,” said the 81-year-old. “Earlier in the race, we tried a different set-up. He was simply on the ropes, like a boxer. And when a boxer is on the ropes, you take him out of the ring. But in his case, we have the safety net of our unique opportunity with a second team – so we’re keeping him in Formula 1.”

But while the Red Bull bosses all agreed that the change was necessary, one person within the team did not – Max Verstappen.

Following reports from Dutch outlets that he ‘disagrees with the team management’s decision to intervene so soon’ and ‘isn’t happy’, Verstappen liked a post from former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde that called confirmation of Lawson’s demotion “closer to bullying or a panic”.

Asked if it would be ‘fair’ to say that Verstappen wanted Lawson to stay, Marko replied: “That conclusion is correct, and he did express that. But we explained to Max that, in order to win the championship, we have to do everything we can to have two cars in the top 10.

“Max argued that the car is very difficult to drive, and that if the car were better, Lawson’s performance would improve as well. Of course, we’re working on further development, but at the moment, it’s hard to predict how quickly that will come.”

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