Helmut Marko has confirmed Red Bull will announce the decision on Liam Lawson’s future on Thursday, with Yuki Tsunoda to step up from the junior Racing Bulls team.
Talks will commence at the Red Bull factory in Milton Keynes in which Lawson is expected to be dropped after only two races and sent back to Racing Bulls in a direct swap with Tsunoda. He was given the seat to replace Sergio Perez but has struggled to adapt to their difficult car.
Racing Bulls have an easier car to drive than Red Bull with their VCARB 02 proving to have a wider operating window than the RB21 so far.
Max Verstappen has shown the RB21 still has a higher performance peak yet even the four-time champion has rued its balance problems.
Verstappen has managed to drag results out of the RB21 that Lawson cannot partly owing to his vast experience using Red Bull’s car philosophy, which is also directed closely to what the 27-year-old desires. It has also annoyed Verstappen that Red Bull are axing Lawson so soon.
Red Bull ostensibly believe it is in their, and also Lawson’s, best interests to send him back to Racing Bulls rather than persist with helping the 23-year-old adapt to the RB21 after just two rounds having been the slowest driver in both qualifying sessions at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Lawson also failed to climb through the order after starting the Chinese GP from the pit lane after Red Bull changed his set-up in parc fermé to try to offer him a kinder car to handle.
So, he is now expected to return to Racing Bulls after Honda helped Tsunoda get a Red Bull seat.
Marko wanted Tsunoda to replace Perez but ultimately agreed to leave the Japanese gem at Racing Bulls with others pushing for Lawson to join Red Bull.
But the Kiwi’s instant demise in the RB21 this year has proven to Marko that it was a ‘mistake’ to gift Lawson a Red Bull seat.
“Yuki was too inconsistent. That’s why we unanimously decided on Lawson,” Marko has told OE24 ahead of the awaited announcement.
“But, under the increased pressure, he couldn’t deliver right from the first day in Australia.
“Then he went into a downward spiral. It’s like a battered boxer; it’s very difficult to get out of it. In that sense, it was a mistake.”
While the decision on their driver line-up remains on the horizon, Red Bull have already had Tsunoda in their simulator to prepare the 24-year-old for his debut in the RB21 on home soil at the Japanese Grand Prix. The team welcomed him to their factory on Tuesday to do a run.
Plans are even in place for Tsunoda to drive in Red Bull’s Tokyo show run on the Wednesday ahead of the Japanese GP, marking his first official outing as a Red Bull driver upon replacing Lawson. But Tsunoda still must show he can handle the pressure Marko says Lawson did not.
It will be a tough task for Tsunoda to step up from the kind-to-drive VCARB 02 to the difficult RB21 at home at Suzuka with no experience driving the real Red Bull chassis on a circuit. The pressure of being at home will also add to the occasion and can see Tsunoda crack instantly.
