{"id":31844,"date":"2025-03-22T05:26:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T09:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=31844"},"modified":"2025-03-22T05:34:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T09:34:02","slug":"liam-lawson-under-pressure-after-poor-results-with-red-bull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/22\/liam-lawson-under-pressure-after-poor-results-with-red-bull\/","title":{"rendered":"Liam Lawson under pressure, Marko not ruling out driver swap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/20\/red-bull-unfazed-ahead-of-new-flexi-wing-restrictions\/\" target=\"_self\">Red Bull<\/a> went against the consensus when they promoted Liam Lawson for 2025 &#8211; as most analysts pointed to Yuki Tsunoda as the most logical choice. Despite this, Christian Horner <strong>was adamant that Lawson was the best option<\/strong> to put alongside Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n<p>Barely weeks into the new season, Lawson&#8217;s position is already under growing jeopardy.<\/p>\n<p>The 23-year-old is <strong>consistently hovering around P20, nowhere close to fighting for the top 10 positions<\/strong> &#8211; let alone teammate Verstappen.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/21\/tsunoda-has-made-quantum-leap-in-performance-says-marko\/\" target=\"_self\">Yuki Tsunoda<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/16\/helmut-marko-not-moved-by-embarrassing-hadjar-tears\/\" target=\"_self\">Isack Hadjar<\/a> continue to impress, it is becoming more and more difficult for Red Bull to defend Lawson.<\/p>\n<h4>Lawson needs to respond immediately after nightmare Red Bull start<\/h4>\n<p>Generally speaking, drivers are given at least a few months to acclimatise and adapt after switching teams.<\/p>\n<p>Even veteran driver Carlos Sainz has admitted that adjusting to the Williams FW47 is a difficult process.<\/p>\n<p>However, the performances that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/20\/lawson-it-doesnt-matter-if-red-bull-suits-my-driving-style\/\" target=\"_self\">Liam Lawson<\/a> is delivering are impossible for the Milton Keynes squad to justify.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Kiwi driver is struggling in every session<\/strong>, and looks far away from claiming points.<\/p>\n<p>Sergio Perez&#8217;s struggles were heavily scrutinised last year &#8211; but even the Mexican driver was above finishing P20 in successive competitive sessions.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst the RB21 is undoubtedly a handful, <strong>nobody at Red Bull believes their 2025 challenger is incapable of at least making Q2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"iJ7RmF8IRm1o_jvkQGZ6Tg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2206181328\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'iJ7RmF8IRm1o_jvkQGZ6Tg',sig:'3laWpWGg8li9hio3N67xbHrkGibbDd_E0VSkSvcIT2E=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2206181328',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>After a poor showing in Australia, Lawson received strong support from Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.<\/p>\n<p>As outlined previously on LWOS, Red Bull won&#8217;t want to abandon Lawson if possible &#8211; <strong>considering the implications that would have for their driver selection<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for the Austrian team, Lawson&#8217;s results are already becoming unsustainable.<\/p>\n<p>This is especially true in the context of Yuki Tsunoda&#8217;s results, with the Japanese driver <strong>holding off Kimi Antonelli for almost 20 laps<\/strong> to claim P6 and three points in the China Sprint Race.<\/p>\n<p>Tsunoda has now out-qualified Lawson in every session so far inn 2025.<\/p>\n<p>If the decision to overlook Tsunoda was unpopular last year, overlooking the 24-year-old is becoming unfeasible.<\/p>\n<p>Even Red Bull, who have shown clear reservations, <strong>must now consider whether Lawson is ready<\/strong> for the top team.<\/p>\n<h4>Helmut Marko and Christian Horner react<\/h4>\n<p>As seen over recent weeks, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/20\/carlos-sainz-defends-isack-hadjar-amidst-marko-comments\/\" target=\"_self\">Helmut Marko is no stranger to making bold statements<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When asked immediately after qualifying about whether Lawson needs to be replaced, he did not dismiss the suggestion:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;F1 is a competitive sport,&#8221; <\/em><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.gpblog.com\/en\/news\/334453\/marko-reacts-for-the-first-time-to-lawson-s-early-elimination-in-china.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he said bluntly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Christian Horner side-stepped questions about the 23-year-old&#8217;s efforts.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I mean, it&#8217;s been a tough day at the for him office today,&#8221;<\/em> he told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;So we&#8217;ll have a good look at it, and go through it, and obviously try to give him the best car for tomorrow.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;As I say, we&#8217;ll have a good look at it, and we&#8217;ll do what we can tomorrow.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"Z5ryL_nxRppYOPzN-3ee4g\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2206180273\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Z5ryL_nxRppYOPzN-3ee4g',sig:'Nt-aoiUlKU4zMavSJIzEmNP4Vgc0OhRRMqTSrRx9gRI=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2206180273',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Although Horner avoided any direct criticism of Lawson, there has already been a significant shift since Australia.<\/p>\n<p>At the first round, the Red Bull team principal used a lack of familiarity with the track and limited practice time to excuse his driver&#8217;s efforts.<\/p>\n<p>These justifications, especially in the context of Hadjar&#8217;s impressive efforts, <strong>will probably be put to the side<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Red Bull were likely anticipating some difficult moments for Lawson, especially at this stage of the season.<\/p>\n<p>However, <strong>it must be questioned how much longer they can ignore the elephant in the room<\/strong> &#8211; particularly if Lawson&#8217;s results don&#8217;t improve quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Red Bull went against the consensus when they promoted Liam Lawson for 2025 &#8211; as most analysts pointed to Yuki Tsunoda as the most logical choice. Despite this, Christian Horner was adamant that Lawson was the best option to put alongside Max Verstappen. Barely weeks into the new season, Lawson&#8217;s position is already under growing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":31845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,2349,78],"class_list":["post-31844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-lawson","tag-red-bull-racing"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31844"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31849,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31844\/revisions\/31849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}