After a lackluster performance in the first two Grand Prix of the season, New Zealander Liam Lawson already seems to be on shaky ground at Red Bull, which continues to struggle to find a suitable partner for Max Verstappen.
Sitting at home, Sergio Pérez must have watched this with a hint of satisfaction. Fired from Red Bull this winter, the Mexican driver sees his replacement, Liam Lawson, struggling significantly in his debut. Both in qualifying (18th in Australia, last in China) and in the race (off-track and then 12th and second to last on Sunday, after the disqualifications of the Ferraris and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine).
The 23-year-old New Zealander knows how to drive, as he demonstrated in his eleven previous F1 appearances under the colors of AlphaTauri (5 races in 2023 replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo) and Racing Bulls (6 races in 2024, again replacing the Australian, who was definitively dismissed this time).
His three appearances in the points, including a strong Grand Prix in Brazil last year (5th on the grid, 9th in the race), convinced Christian Horner and Helmut Marko to appoint him at Red Bull this year, hoping he would outperform Pérez who, with his average of 6.3 points per GP, clearly cost the Austrian team the constructors’ title in 2024.
Liam Lawson
“I need time, but I know I don’t have it”
So far, the gamble has not paid off. Since he’s been behind the wheel of a Red Bull, Lawson seems to have forgotten how to drive. Lost on the track and full of doubt off it. “I need to find a solution as quickly as possible because every race we lose points,” he admitted to the media in China on Sunday. “I’m not stupid, I know I’m here to perform and if I don’t, I won’t be here much longer. I’m trying to get used to this car as quickly as possible. I need time, but I know I don’t have it.”
Like Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, or Sergio Pérez before him, Liam Lawson suffers from the comparison with his teammate Max Verstappen, who has scored all 36 points for Red Bull, currently third in the Championship with already a 42-point deficit to McLaren. It’s as if no one other than the Dutchman is capable of taming a Milton Keynes single-seater, likely tailored to the driving style of the talented champion.
49
Max Verstappen’s teammates, Sergio Pérez and Liam Lawson, have only scored 49 points in the last 20 Grand Prix. Meanwhile, the Dutchman has scored 337.
At Red Bull, the teammate seems to be nothing more than a reluctant rodeo candidate, clinging to his seat knowing he is doomed to be ejected from the wild beast at one point or another. Carlos Sainz lasted twenty-three Grand Prix. Pierre Gasly twelve. Albon twenty-six. Only Ricciardo (58) and Pérez (90) have managed to endure.
What about Lawson? Will he make the trip to Japan, the first stop of the April triple header, or will he already be crucified after only two races, to allow Red Bull to catch up with McLaren while there is still time? “We have the data from the first two Grand Prix and we will examine them carefully,” Horner commented on Sunday. “We have 400 engineers on the team and 600 sensors on the car, so there is a huge amount of information to process.”
Promotion for Tsunoda?
Lawson’s future also depends on Red Bull’s top brass’s reflections on the potential of his possible replacement. Who, in the market, provides enough guarantees today to make such a tough decision? Sparkling since the start of the season, with perhaps the resentment of not having inherited Pérez’s seat this winter as fuel, Yuki Tsunoda would be at the top of the list.
This option would allow Lawson, a Red Bull graduate, not to completely burn out his career by allowing him to rebuild at Racing Bulls alongside Isack Hadjar. And as Helmut Marko is not one to shy away from a contradiction, he would probably not mind promoting the Japanese driver just a few months after preferring Lawson. But there is a risk of seeing Tsunoda explode in flight, like the others, at the wheel of this Red Bull so tricky to handle.
On Monday, a rumor also mentioned the Franco Colapinto track. The one who made his debut with Williams last year was recruited by Alpine as a reserve driver. Ready to jump into Jack Doohan’s seat at the first misstep of the Australian, the Argentine will seize any opportunity to return to the grid quickly. With nine Grand Prix behind him, including three abandonments, it’s hard to imagine him as Red Bull’s savior, which is now in a real mess. This must undoubtedly make someone, somewhere in Mexico, smile.
