{"id":32302,"date":"2025-04-02T14:43:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T18:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=32302"},"modified":"2025-04-02T14:45:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T18:45:41","slug":"christian-horner-red-bull-engineers-expressed-lawson-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/02\/christian-horner-red-bull-engineers-expressed-lawson-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Horner: Red Bull engineers expressed Lawson concern"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hardly an hour goes by without more news on Red Bull and their driver line-up. For obvious reasons, Christian Horner&#8217;s team is firmly under the spotlight as <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/02\/tsunoda-not-intimidated-by-different-rb21-after-first-indications\/\" target=\"_self\">Yuki Tsunoda<\/a> replaces <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/02\/liam-lawson-i-didnt-have-enough-time-at-red-bull\/\" target=\"_self\">Liam Lawson<\/a> for the remainder of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Tsunoda will be thrown into the deep end for his home race in Japan, adding another dimension to his baptism of fire.<\/p>\n<p>Potential wet conditions for Sunday&#8217;s race could further complicate an already difficult situation for the 24-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the unprecedented nature of such an early swap, Christian Horner believes Red Bull are taking the correct path.<\/p>\n<h2>Horner insists &#8220;this is not the end&#8221; for Lawson<\/h2>\n<p>Christian Horner&#8217;s belief in Liam Lawson became quite clear last season, when Daniel Ricciardo was replaced in favour of the 23-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Bull team principal&#8217;s belief in Lawson was so significant that he put him alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/31\/max-verstappen-exit-clauses-put-red-bull-under-pressure\/\" target=\"_self\">Max Verstappen<\/a> having completed just 11 Grand Prix.<\/p>\n<p>This move was especially bold considering Red Bull&#8217;s history of promoting young drivers too soon.<\/p>\n<p>Within just a few races, Horner has conceded that his decision to promote Lawson was too hasty.<\/p>\n<p>He believes that Yuki Tsunoda has the necessary experience to compensate for a lack of pre-season and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/30\/red-bull-rb21-development-concerns-intensify\/\" target=\"_self\">adapt to the RB21<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Still, he insists that Lawson&#8217;s future is far from over:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Yeah, look, of course it&#8217;s horrible,&#8221;<\/em> he told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Because you&#8217;re taking away someone&#8217;s dreams and aspirations. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;But sometimes, you&#8217;ve got to be cruel to be kind. I think that in this instance, this is not the end for Liam.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;That is what I was very clear with him. There&#8217;s a sample of two races, I think we&#8217;ve asked too much too soon.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We&#8217;ve got work to do with the car&#8230; We need to draw on the experience that Yuki has.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;In the meantime, you need to go and rebuild yourself in the Racing Bulls.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;In an environment that you know, and that is perhaps less pressured than Red Bull Racing.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"4zMve0qbT1FYVBLstf3Tvw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2205961756\" 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:'4zMve0qbT1FYVBLstf3Tvw',sig:'7YFsa5EXUGknQIa9-Mqd0LWsLs2_kzm61HocJzRuDIw=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2205961756',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Red Bull put their faith in Tsunoda<\/h4>\n<p>In Red Bull&#8217;s official statement, they mentioned Tsunoda&#8217;s experience as a central factor in their decision.<\/p>\n<p>The Milton Keynes outfit seem hopeful the 24-year-old can provide input on <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/05\/red-bull-rb21-did-not-respond-as-we-wanted-across-testing\/\" target=\"_self\">the RB21&#8217;s set-up<\/a> and widen it&#8217;s operating window.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the extent to which Tsunoda can unlock some performance from such a tricky car is unclear.<\/p>\n<p>Still, they believe the Japanese driver&#8217;s time with the likes of Nyck De Vries and Daniel Ricciardo has bolstered his technical understanding of F1 cars &#8211; which could be a crucial strength.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of Tsunoda&#8217;s technical knowledge, Christian Horner told Sky Sports that some of his engineers expressed concerns about Lawson&#8217;s performance:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I think with everything we saw in Australia and China, you could see that it was affecting Liam quite badly.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We could have left it. And I think Liam is a driver with talent &#8211; maybe with half a season he would have got there.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;But we just don&#8217;t have that amount of time.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"gb0Zu3PtRgVxd-QwzrOEWw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2205680758\" 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:'gb0Zu3PtRgVxd-QwzrOEWw',sig:'fYH1MqqDS_HXBzCJ7NuJ59IlDzAlMmI0KzfaPEolLu0=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2205680758',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;It was something what was very clear to the engineering side within the team &#8211; just how much Liam was struggling with it all.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;And you could see that weight upon his shoulders.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;The engineers were coming to me very concerned about it, and at the end of the day, I think it was the logical thing to do.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>With only simulator sessions to prepare, Tsunoda certainly is not entering this weekend&#8217;s action with any kind of foundation.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/22\/f1-red-bull-considering-lawson-mid-season-swap\/\" target=\"_self\">Lawson&#8217;s difficulties in the RB21<\/a> will give the 24-year-old a grace period as he acclimatises to the Red Bull.<\/p>\n<p>Provided that Tsunoda can even come close to Q3 and fight for points, it will give Red Bull something to work with.<\/p>\n<p>Tsunoda himself is relatively relaxed about the situation, showcasing the kind of level-headed approach that will be necessary for his new chapter at Red Bull.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst the future remains in doubt, Christian Horner&#8217;s squad are committed to this configuration.<\/p>\n<p>Only time will tell if it&#8217;s effective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hardly an hour goes by without more news on Red Bull and their driver line-up. For obvious reasons, Christian Horner&#8217;s team is firmly under the spotlight as Yuki Tsunoda replaces Liam Lawson for the remainder of 2025. Tsunoda will be thrown into the deep end for his home race in Japan, adding another dimension to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":32303,"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":[2452,1755,2455],"class_list":["post-32302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-liam-lawson","tag-rb21"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32302","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=32302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32304,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32302\/revisions\/32304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}