A NASCAR driver has hit out at Red Bull's treatment of Liam Lawson, after the young New Zealander was demoted to their junior team after just two races.
Lawson was called up to the senior team to partner Max Verstappen when Sergio Perez was removed from the front line over the winter, having had just 11 races of Formula 1 experience at the time.
The 23-year-old's season started disastrously, crashing out while sitting out of the points in Australia before qualifying dead last for both the sprint race and grand prix in China, fighting his way up to 15th (which was upgraded to 12th when three drivers were disqualified.
Red Bull officially confirmed this week that Lawson will swap places with Yuki Tsunoda, who was passed over for promotion by the team over the off-season.
Parker Kligerman was on the 'Money Lap' podcast with Landon Cassill earlier this week, discussing the rumors of Lawson's departure before it was officially confirmed, and he said: “This just discredits your whole process, your decision-making.
"For the way they get out in the media like, ‘We have choices to replace him now,’ one or two races in, just boggles my mind. It boils my blood.”
Cassill agreed, adding: “It just looks schizophrenic. It looks like they just were on a whim these things are decided and it looks unprofessional.”
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said after the decision: "But under the increased pressure, he couldn’t deliver from day one. He entered a downward spiral, it is like a stricken boxer and on top of that, it is hard to get out of it. In that sense, it was a mistake [to put him in the seat]."