Christian Horner delivers Red Bull statement on Liam Lawson

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has issued a response to questions over the outfit's underperforming driver, Liam Lawson.

The Kiwi racer was promoted to drive for the main team alongside Max Verstappen at the end of last year having competed for the junior team sporadically in 2023 and 2024.

Lawson was called in to replace Daniel Ricciardo at RB, firstly just as a substitute for the injured Aussie and then later as a permanent replacement after the junior team opted to axe Ricciardo midway through last season.

In what many considered to be an audition alongside Yuki Tsunoda for the second Red Bull seat, Lawson proved himself to be worthy of a full-time seat on the F1 grid, but Horner's decision to promote him instantly to Red Bull struck a chord with many among the paddock.

Horner responds to Lawson replacement rumours

Lawson has only had two races to get to grips with the RB21- which is infamously harder to drive than the Racing Bulls machinery- yet questions are being raised already over whether its time for Horner and F1 advisor Helmut Marko to conduct their first driver swap of the year.

Following the race on Sunday, Horner spoke to Sky F1 and finally responded to the rumours, partly fuelled by Marko, that Red Bull are considering swapping Lawson and Tsunoda for the Japanese Grand Prix next time out.

"There's always going to be speculation in the paddock. As I say, we've only just finished the race here. We'll take away the info and have a good look at it," Horner stated, failing to shoot down the rumours entirely.

When queried over Marko's claims that a meeting had been scheduled to discuss the team's issue next week, Horner claimed that 'nothing specific' had been planned.

"I think Liam's had a tough couple of races, a tough weekend here. We elected to take him off the grid out of parc ferme to do a significant set-up change and so we've managed to get 56 laps of reasonable data from that. Obviously, we'll take that away, we'll have a good look at it, and, as a group, we'll do our best to support him.

"Liam is obviously confidence-wise struggling with the car at the moment, which is why we made some significant changes today to see if we could find a more confidence-inspiring set-up for him."

Horner continued: "I think Liam still has got potential, we're just not realising that at the moment. I think the problem for him is, he's had a couple of really tough weekends, he's got all the media on his back.

"The pressure just naturally grows in this business, and I feel very sorry for him. You can see it's very tough on him at the moment.

"He's a young guy, we've got a duty to look after him and we're going to do the best that we can to support him."

Tsunoda vs Lawson: Who is fit for the second Red Bull seat?

Tsunoda has now entered his fifth season racing for Red Bull's junior F1 team and despite being only two race weekends into the year, has continued to impress Red Bull with his strong form.

The Japanese racer finished this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix last out of those who managed to finish the race, four places behind Lawson, with neither driver securing points for their respective team despite one DNF and three post-race disqualifications in Shanghai.

That being said, Tsunoda's first poor result of the season came through no fault of his own after a questionable two-stop strategy and bizarre damage to his front wing, despite not experiencing any contact.

The main event in China was the first time this season that Tsunoda has been beaten by Lawson, with the Red Bull driver's poor form most obvious throughout qualifying.

The 23-year-old has suffered Q1 exits in every qualifying session this year, lining up last on the grid for both the sprint and the main event this weekend.

F1 HEADLINES: Red Bull statement delivered on Lawson as Vettel handed F1 boost

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