Liam Lawson is finding out what it’s like to be a Red Bull driver and what it’s like to have Max Verstappen as a teammate. While the Dutchman managed to set the second fastest time in the sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, just missing out on pole, the New Zealander was last, a big disappointment for the Austrian team, which is increasingly having second thoughts about the decision to give him the wheel.
Doubts at Red Bull for Liam Lawson
Liam Lawson had high hopes for his arrival at Red Bull. After getting into the Racing Bulls car at the end of last season, where he seemed to be racing without pressure and where he obtained good results, valid for the seat he currently occupies, his arrival at the Austrian team is far from what was expected. In Australia he became the worst debutant in the history of F1, with a poor qualifying and a retirement in the first lap. At Red Bull, he was initially treated harshly, but Christian Horner, knowing how knives fly in the team when results are poor, quickly came to his defense, claiming that he still had to adapt to the car.
The conditions in Australia, especially the rain on Sunday, could serve to excuse the performance of the young driver. However, in the qualifying for the sprint race of the Chinese Grand Prix these excuses no longer apply. The conditions were perfectly suited to show his potential, but his time was the worst of the entire grid.
Max Verstappen, as usual, does not help, as his qualifying has been magnificent. Already in the Australian GP he achieved second position, and fought for the victory against Norris until the last corner, and today he has almost achieved pole position. It would have been curious to see a Red Bull leading the table, and another closing it, but Lewis Hamilton avoided an image that would have been devastating for Lawson.
Lawson: “I suffered throughout the whole lap”
The Red Bull driver was disappointed after the sprint qualifying in China. “It’s frustrating”. The driver explains that he had a good feeling on his first lap, but from then on things started to go wrong. “I crashed on my second lap. Obviously it’s a shame”. “The start wasn’t so bad. The first lap was good and we tried to build on that”.
He explains that he had a problem with the tire temperatures, he couldn’t cool them down, which meant that his second lap was not competitive. “We wanted to cool the tires and it was very difficult for me to lower the temperature,” he said. “We started too hot and I suffered throughout the lap.”
Ultimatum for Lawson
We haven’t even completed two races and Liam Lawson is already on the ropes. Before the start of the weekend in China, Helmut Marko already confirmed that a decision will be made after the next three races, Suzuka, Sakhir and Jeddah, that is the margin he has to turn the tables. Improving on what we have seen so far is simple, but we will see if it is enough to regain confidence.
The departure of “Checo” Pérez last year, a far cry from Verstappen’s times, is still a burden for Liam Lawson. The New Zealand driver has shown great confidence in his chances, he has been seen as a forward-looking guy, confident, eager to prove that Red Bull’s decision was the right one, but he has entered fully into a very dangerous spiral. Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda is waiting in the wings. The Racing Bulls driver could be the next driver to sit behind the wheel of a car that seems cursed, it would be a swap. The pressure from Red Bull is enormous and the bar is set very high, the bar of having a teammate who is a four-time world champion and one of the best drivers in history.