Saturday’s qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix was once again a tale of two Red Bulls as Verstappen challenged for a leading position on the grid, and Liam Lawson finished down in 20th place.
It was the New Zealander’s third Q1 elimination in his short Red Bull career, one that raised questions about his longevity at Red Bull.
Even Lawson acknowledged that, telling Sky F1: “I don’t really have time.
“It’s just one of those things that me driving a Formula 1 car takes 100 per cent confidence in what you’re doing. It’s not that I don’t feel confident, but the window is so small that, right now, I just seem to miss it.
“I just need to get a handle on it. I don’t know how else to put it, it’s just not good enough.”
Marko agrees.
“He’s right,” the Red Bull motorsport advisor told Motorsport.com. “It was disappointing, and we have to go through and analyse everything, and then we see.
“It’s all depending on performance, and he didn’t deliver.”
However, Lawson’s team-mate Verstappen has a theory about why Lawson could be struggling.
Given that last season Lawson showed similar pace to Yuki Tsunoda during his six-race audition and that this year the Japanese driver is qualifying inside the top ten, Verstappen believes the Racing Bulls F1 car is easier to drive than the Red Bull.
“If you looked at Liam at Racing Bulls, actually he was quite similar with Yuki,” said the four-time World Champion. “There was not a whole lot of difference between them, I thought.
“Otherwise, of course, the team wouldn’t make that choice to put Liam in.
“And now suddenly that gap is very big, and they are also very close to me, so that tells you something. When I talk to Liam, the Racing Bulls car is definitely easier to drive than our car.”
That was put to Marko, who brushed it off as an excuse.
“Yeah, but in the end a very fast car is always difficult to drive,” he said.
It begs the question, could Yuki Tsunoda or Isack Hadjar, the Racing Bulls team-mates, do better? And will they maybe get the opportunity to show it.
“Let’s discuss when it when it happens. Yuki is driving for his future. That’s what matters, and he’s now doing very well,” Marko said.
“Yuki Tsunoda, [in] the first race and the sprint race, was competitive. No mistakes.
“But even more impressive was Hadjar at his second race. He didn’t know the circuit here and he’s like seventh, so that’s even more impressive.
“It shows that the junior program is working, and also that Racing Bulls made a car which is competitive and obviously easier to drive.”
