Red Bull chief pins Lawson switch on 'bad luck'

Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has revealed the downward spiral Liam Lawson found himself on that eventually led to his axe from the Formula 1 team.

Yuki Tsunoda will race with Red Bull from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards, after Lawson failed to deliver points or a Q3 appearance during his opening two races with the team, and the 23-year-old will instead race with junior team Racing Bulls.

Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has since pinpointed the moment Lawson’s ‘bad luck’ began, revealing that the Kiwi’s missed time in Bahrain testing was the origin of his problems.

On day two of testing in Bahrain, Lawson had a full day scheduled, but the rain in the morning and reliability issues in the afternoon meant he only had 149 laps to get used to his new car - the second lowest of all 20 drivers.

"Liam has had his fair share of bad luck, during the test days in Bahrain he missed a lot of time due to mechanical problems," Marko said to Dutch publication De Telegraaf.

"During the third free practice in Australia he also lost important time. That's when the problems started. The pressure on him became greater and greater. He lost confidence, tried harder and harder, but made more mistakes as a result.

"In China it went from bad to worse. In addition, our car is very difficult to drive and not the fastest."

Have Red Bull made the right decision to axe Lawson?

Whilst it is difficult to argue with Lawson’s results in Australia and China, Max Verstappen himself has suggested that the car hindered his former team-mate, and hinted that Lawson could produce better results in the Racing Bulls car than the RB21.

Lawson returns to Red Bull's sister team in Suzuka, a move that Marko hopes will be able to kickstart and recover the 23-year-old's career under less pressure.

Tsunoda in the meantime will be Red Bull’s main chance of recovering in the constructors’ championship, with Verstappen’s 36 points all the team has managed to acquire thus far.

Despite the difficulties with Red Bull’s current car, Tsunoda has the run of form to back up his promotion with two Q3 appearances to his name in 2025, and an impressive 2024 season where he comprehensively beat team-mates Lawson and Daniel Ricciardo at Racing Bulls.

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