‘We made mistake’ on Lawson, says Red Bull chief

Helmut Marko, a sports expert, claims that Red Bull “made a mistake” in selecting Liam Lawson.

Following disappointing results in the first two races of the season, the New Zealander was given a promotion to Max Verstappen as team-mate.

In a swap with Yuki Tsunoda from Japan, Lawson has made a second-team appearance for Red Bull.

Marko claimed that his performance, “unfortunately not good enough, and that comes from self-assurance,” was lacking.

Lawson sailed out of the race after finishing 18th in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. He placed 14th and 12th in China last weekend, coming in last both for the sprint and the grand prix.

Verstappen, the reigning world champion, finished second in Shanghai and second in Melbourne. The Japanese Grand Prix will take place on April 4 and 4 respectively.

Lawson, 23, said he was relieved of his position but that he is looking forward to working for his former team, Racing Bulls.

He wrote on Instagram, “Being a Red Bull Racing driver has been my dream since I was a child. It’s what I’ve worked for my entire life.”

“I’m appreciative of everything that has brought me here.” Thank you for your continued support, everyone who stood by me. The world is meant by that.

Tsunoda, 24, was “to the end of the season” at Red Bull to demonstrate his abilities, according to Marko, Marko.

When the Japanese were to decide Lawson was the best bet at the end of the previous season, Marko responded, “Tsunoda made a big step.” It’s odd that after four years, he is now in his fifth year, has a much stronger personality, has more self-assurance, and did two excellent races; it’s just that his strategy didn’t work at Racing Bulls.

A very challenging car experience is something that will help in this situation. Our thoughts were on that.

We were concerned that Lawson’s self-confidence might not be able to deliver his usual performance, according to Marko, who stated that Red Bull decided not to give him another chance at the Japanese Grand Prix. This is Lawson’s first race this season that will take place on a circuit he has previously raced on.

He continued, “We have two drivers for the constructors’ championship, but we also need to support Max strategy because it’s easier to max a strategy that favors the number one driver if you have two drivers in the top five or eight.”

Marko argued that Lawson’s decision to switch to Tsunoda was not a demotion.

He won’t be expelled from Formula One, Marko claimed, and Racing Bulls will give him a chance to recover and his career will begin again.

Marko cited the drivers’ prior Red Bull career as proof that Lawson could resurrect his career.

Marko said, “He goes back to Racing Bulls, which has a car capable of placing in the top 10 in both qualifying and the race,” to benefit him.

“Just look in the past; it was (Pierre) Gasly; it also happened to (Alex) Albon; they both recovered, and they are now competitive F1 drivers.”

Ferrari made the decision to resign Sergio Perez from his free agent position until the end of 2026, as they did with the driver errors from last spring, when they chose to do so instead of signing Lewis Hamilton as a free agent.

Perez’s performances were sluggish, and Red Bull ended the season by paying him off and taking Lawson instead.

In retrospect, Marko said, “But when he was available with Red Bull Racing, it was a different situation.

Marko expressed his optimism that Red Bull could fix the car’s issues and give Verstappen a fifth title.

He acknowledged that if the Dutchman’s car’s pace did not improve, he might consider stopping.

We are incredibly motivated to win this fifth title, according to Marko. Additionally, all of the top drivers’ contracts have performance clauses in place if they don’t deliver for Max.

So we must ensure that he receives a vehicle that is winable, and Max and the engineers had a very positive discussion about how to proceed and how to make the car more maneuverable and have a wider range of drivability.

“We are eight points clear of them, so it’s just two races.” And the entire team is working hard to win this fifth title, which we didn’t do with Sebastian Vettel, but it’s still possible this time.

We were competitive but not everywhere like it was on the McLaren, but we are not as off as it seems, according to Max on the hard tyre (in the Chinese Grand Prix).