Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko has admitted the team made a mistake by promoting Liam Lawson to its line-up this year.
The team confirmed today it has dropped Lawson with immediate effect. He will return to the other Red Bull-owned F1 team, Racing Bulls, while Yuki Tsunoda will take his former seat.While technical trouble in testing meant Lawson completed the fewest laps of almost any driver, Marko singled out the problem which struck in final practice at Melbourne as being particularly costly.
“In Australia he had a turbo failure in the third practice session,” Marko told OE24. “The mileage he lost as a result is costing him.
The team’s decision to promote Lawson instead of Tsunoda at the end of last season was widely questioned at the time. Tsunoda tested for Red Bull late last year but Marko said the team was fully behind the decision to promote Lawson at the time.
“Yuki was too inconsistent,” he said. “That’s why we unanimously decided on Lawson.
“But under the increased pressure, he wasn’t able to perform – right from the first day in Australia. Then he got caught in a downward spiral. It’s like a struggling boxer – it’s very difficult to get out of. In that sense, it was a mistake.”
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Tsunoda has out-qualified Lawson for all three races so far this year, including the sprint event at Shanghai. However Marko does not believe Racing Bulls’ car is a match for the Red Bull.
“It’s true that the RB21 is difficult to drive,” he said. “The Racing Bull[s] is easier to handle and very quick over a single qualifying lap. But in race conditions, it lags well behind the Red Bull Racing car.”
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Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
27th March 2025, 15:01
Yuki’s so inconsistent he consistently performed well against his team mates to get his chance at Red Bull
Red Pill (@redpill)
28th March 2025, 6:42
Yuki is so inconsistent, How was he still able to score more points than another other Vcarb-AlphaTauri driver in the last five years?
Yuki is so inconsistent, what does that say about Red Bulls management skills to pick good drivers? As Yuki has been the least inconsistent of all of them. Isn’t that Marko’s call?
Maybe RB is even more the inconsistent than Yuki, on its ability to find good consistent drivers.
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
28th March 2025, 8:46
@redpill Marko doesn’t want Yuki – the team is required to run him as part of the Honda deal. It’s expected that he’ll leave at the end of the year regardless of where he places in the championship, possibly going to Aston Martin.
Edvaldo
27th March 2025, 15:26
“We need a strong second driver, if only for team strategy.”
And that’s why they’re struggling. They want someone to be good, but not too good. Perez was good enough while they had superior machines, but doesn’t belong there in equal machinery; he’s a journeyman after all. The others at the top cars are all great prospects or already established top drivers and champions.
Sainz was available for the best part of 2024, and they passed on him; Bottas and Hulk were out there too.
If the rookie isn’t a major talent, like Max was, and Antonelli seems to be, no matter who they put in there, he won’t be delivering what they expect if they don’t give him a good enough car to do it.
Doggy
27th March 2025, 15:42
Sainz is getting destroyed by Albon. Had he joined RBR everyone would be losing their minds about why Sainz is in and not Lawson or Yuki. The hulk and Bottas are just washed. Good for reserve drivers and that’s that
Edvaldo
27th March 2025, 16:04
Sainz is getting destroyed by Albon but is doing better in a lesser car than the guy they got for Red Bull. How can that be?
As for the others, they would obviously work as stop-gaps until someone else becomes consistent enough for the seat, because, let’s be real: they dropped Lawson after two races to put Yuki in. If Yuki isn’t a major upgrade over Lawson, what will they do? It can’t be worse than that. Perez at least had the Mexican sponsors as an excuse for them to always look for him to improve at the next race, but these guys from their program have nothing to protect them from immediate dismissal.
Doggy
27th March 2025, 16:28
I vote to put Marko as the second driver. So he gets fired and we don’t have to hear from him anymore.
Out of a joke, this is one of the cases where you are doomed if you do and doomed if you don’t.
They should have given the seat to Yuki from the get go and Lawson taking the other sit next to Hadjar.
This would have saved a lot of the stress and uproar.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th March 2025, 18:57
Doggy Although had Yuki been promoted in the first place, he most likely would’ve struggled just as much over the Australian & Chinese GP weekends, & consequently, a swap would’ve still happened with the roles merely reversed or everyone would presently be questioning him getting promoted over Liam as Checo’s direct successor.
Yes, no one will ever know for absolute certainty how Yuki would’ve exactly performed in the RB21 in the two 2025 GPs thus far, but how he performs from the next round onwards gives a clearer idea.
Red Pill (@redpill)
28th March 2025, 5:13
2nd driver is expected to stay two places back of Max (the king), but not be more than four places back from Max and not say too much; otherwise sayonara!
Love live the king ¯\_(ᴼل͜ᴼ)_/¯
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
28th March 2025, 8:50
Take the design team out back and shoot them?
The car is so laser focused on absolute peak performance & Max Verstappen’s ability to handle it that it’s condemned the team to the doldrums…
Addme (@dontme)
27th March 2025, 16:59
I don’t know why people forgot about Verstappen and Sainz while they were teammates. RB doesn’t want a repeat of that drama, so Sainz was never an option.
Edvaldo
27th March 2025, 17:35
People didn’t forget. The thing is: is the current situation any better?
David BR (@david-br)
27th March 2025, 15:28
So Red Bull are now promoting a driver they think is too inconsistent? Real question: how are they expecting his appointment to end then?
PacificPR (@streydt)
27th March 2025, 20:24
..and how many careers can they destroy in a season!
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
29th March 2025, 23:25
To destroy you first have to make. RBR give loads of drivers a chance. They are brutal. F1 is brutal. They want all their drivers to succeed but its not a finishing school and RBR’s record is better than everyones by some margin
Doggy
27th March 2025, 15:39
Well it was your mistake Marko. You have not brought anyone worthy of lasting next to Max. Perhaps, it’s time to demote you.
Dex
27th March 2025, 15:45
So now it’s a “we”.
Saffa
27th March 2025, 16:11
Maybe Marko is trying to prove there is no better driver and therefore he deserves a chance. 🤷♂️
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
27th March 2025, 16:12
1 of the 2 races was a wet race and then left him out on slicks as a test crash dummy to see if VER could run the slicks.
I’m going to guess, warning, this is an opinion and pure speculation, which is why I say a guess, it isn’t about the racing but that the kid probably is a bit immature and said some things to Horner and Marko that they didn’t like. Because it can’t be about the racing after 2 races, 1 in the wet, on tracks the kid never races on.
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
27th March 2025, 16:28
Your guess sounds plausible to me.
Left out on slicks in Australia … that should seriously not be held against him now.
Then he had one poor race in China on an unfamiliar track.
Qualification times for Q1 in China:
Norris 1:30.983 (fastest in Q1)
Verstappen 1:31.424 (fifth)
Lawson 1:32.174 (20th and last => out)
Times were very close in China Q1.
Lawson was about 1.2 seconds off the fastest Q1 time (Norris), around 0.7 seconds off Verstappen in fifth, and about 0.4 secs slower than Alonso in 13th (1:31.719).
Probably more to this than meets the eye.
JeroenJ
27th March 2025, 18:29
Can we please stop with the ‘unfamiliar track’ argument? F1 drivers are (supposed to be) the cream of the crop and should be able to learn a new track in FP1 if not in 5 laps or so.
Plus he will have driven it in the simulator.
Edvaldo
27th March 2025, 18:50
This is a weak excuse indeed. This was not the reason he was awful. If he can’t drive the car, then he just can’t, it’s not knowing the track that will make a difference.
To me, it reflects much worse on their management as they were aware of that and still threw him to the grinder that is their second car only for it to haunt them back in the span of 9 days.
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
27th March 2025, 18:57
0.7 seconds off Verstappen in Q1 isn’t that much over a 3.3 mile/5.2 kilometre lap.
He’s out regardless. If Red Bull seriously expects anyone to
(a) not beat VER
but
(b) be closer to VER than 0.7 seconds and make Q3 (but not beat VER)
…then I would argue that the expectations from the Red Bull team are seriously unrealistic and they are well deserved of every poor result they are going to get.
Lawson lost 0.7 seconds in one race, sure. Out!
Red Bull top management has had seven years to get their elusive perfect driver for car no 2. Next time they will surely succeed!
Doggy
27th March 2025, 19:23
I’m not going to argue that is too soon to get rid of a driver after 2 races. Yet, the issue is not the absolute delta “0.7”, but it’s the proportion of the impact. This is being dead last in qualifying in both races.
What makes it worse for Liam is that the grid is plagued with rookies who outperformed him.
Having said that, Please go to YouTube and watch this video: > Race Driver Explains Lawson’s Driving Style Problem < from Driver61.
It will help a lot to better understand the situation
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
27th March 2025, 20:21
Very good video, thank you for that.
sam
27th March 2025, 16:14
It’s his failure as well….
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
27th March 2025, 16:59
Why don’t you get in the car, Marko?
Tommy Scragend
27th March 2025, 21:55
Because he’s 81 and only has one eye?
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
27th March 2025, 23:07
He’s a similar age to my grandma. If he’s anything like her she wants to fire all the supermarket staff, self service tills, the government, cats, China, ‘them’, ‘him’ and ‘them’ again. Liam probably did well to last two races, my grandma would have had him out of the car before he sat down.
*This isn’t meant to be ageist, but people later in life can be a bit critical / lack patience with the world. Generally speaking. My grandma would make a great team boss, she even has the Enzo Ferrari glasses, she’d have Ted Kravitz in tears in two minutes.
RH
27th March 2025, 19:53
Can’t wait for him to leave F1 for good
Just retire old man.
Zach (@zakspeedf1team)
27th March 2025, 20:38
And how much has Marko delivered?
UNeedAFinn2Win (@uneedafinn2win)
28th March 2025, 5:37
In his actual job as head of Red Bull Motorsports Marketing ?
Eleventydozenbuillion dollarez
Ferdi
28th March 2025, 9:56
8 WDC’s, 6 WCC’s, 122 race victories and 283 podiums.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
29th March 2025, 23:27
+283
Seppo (@helava)
27th March 2025, 20:42
This is like when you read a headline in a newspaper like, “Man shot during altercation with police”. No, no – “Police shot man” or “Man shot police”. There’s a passivity and lack of ownership in a phrase, “it was a mistake” versus “I made a mistake,” or “it was my mistake”. Because it was Helmut Marko’s mistake. It was Christian Horner’s mistake.
It wasn’t Liam Lawson’s mistake.
It’s subtle. It sounds like a pedantic argument over semantics. But ownership matters, and accountability matters, and Marko’s skated along for way too many failures in a row at this point. Yeah, he was part of Vettel and Verstappen’s success. But he wasn’t Vettel and Verstappen’s success. He was much more directly responsible for the failures of Gasly, Albon, Perez, and now Lawson – how they were treated on the team and in the press (particularly in the press).
Tick tock, Helmut. Your time is coming.
BasCB (@bascb)
28th March 2025, 8:07
Indeed. The mistake was made by Marko (and the rest of the team management went along). They only have themselves to blame for putting Lawson in a situation where there was no opportunity to grow and learn fast enough to meet their unrealistic expectations.
I just hope Lawson will be able to regroup, settle in and grow as a driver at the smaller team (with a car that seems less unforgiving, be it not great on race pace) to have a future as a racer.
baasbas
29th March 2025, 12:42
@helava
I like your point of view and it is good to call this out.
But, in this specific example he said “we decided unanimously”. And “It was a mistake” clearly refers to that we.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
29th March 2025, 23:31
Hes responsible for the failures but not the successes? I dont get it. He gives a guy the chance of his life and he bungles it. Yes more time but no. Ask Kovalinien, when he was asked to step in for ‘Lotus’ he totally blew it and he knew it. When Colopinto stepped in, he nearly got the drive at RBR. Its a weird unscientific way to do things but as DC would say, ‘it is what it is’
André
27th March 2025, 21:00
It seems like a very risky strategy to insist with a car that only one driver can handle. If Max decided to leave Redbull, the team would be fighting in the bottom half of the grid. Consistently.
If only Max can drive it, then it is not really about developing a fast car that he is able to extract the maximum out of, but really about pursuing that path only because he is there with a rare ability to make an otherwise unworkable concept work.
When it’s a 2023-like utter domination, ok, I guess the risk is justified. But you see, it’s proving unsustainable in the long run.
Rob (@standbyexp)
27th March 2025, 22:16
Isn’t Marko in charge of driver development? Seems to me that apart from Seb and Max he’s massively failed in his role. I don’t understand how he retains his position. Sack him.
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
28th March 2025, 9:01
He was given free reign (and limited oversight) by Didi Mateschitz whilst he was alive. If Max and Jos hadn’t said ‘if Marko goes, we go’, I suspect he would have been retired by now.
grat
28th March 2025, 1:47
So… what happens if Yuki is also unable to extract Max performance out of the RB-21?
Is it possible the RB21 is just a bad car, and Max is only able to extract performance out of it because he’s skilled, experienced, and still young enough to have lightning quick reflexes?
MacLeod (@macleod)
28th March 2025, 8:02
Very big chance on that.
BasCB (@bascb)
28th March 2025, 8:08
By now, I’d almost say that is a given, yeah. Who knows, maybe Tsunoda will be about Perez level at least and show them the issue is with them / the car?
We all know Max really is able to get something special out of a car by now, and we saw it with other exceptional drivers too. But the team was so confident they let the guys making the cars good walk away.
anon
28th March 2025, 8:29
grat, if being “young enough to have lightning quick reflexes” was a factor, then your theory would suggest that should have been to Lawson’s advantage, given he’s younger than Verstappen is.
grat
28th March 2025, 13:00
I also mentioned experience– Max has been wrestling F1 cars and tracks for 10 years. Lawson has considerably less experience in F1, and doesn’t appear to be as good at driving on the knife’s edge as Max is.
Stoo (@stewart51)
28th March 2025, 15:55
I’ve been watching F1 since it began in the early fifties, and I can’t remember a single person who was anything like Marko, He really is a troll and a half, and I think his value as a consultant is debatable.
His predictions are almost self fulfilling, in that he creates an atmosphere where anyone without his usual hero worship is pushed towards doom. To my mind Lawson is better off outside of the Red Bull Family of teams, and only needs a supportive crew around him to get on well in F1. Not everyone in F1 is destined to be WDC material.
Ajaxn
29th March 2025, 0:40
For Yuki’s sake, I hope their racing simulators are as twitchy as that car.
Win7Golf (@win7golf)
29th March 2025, 6:43
Retire, old man.
You are an embarrassment to the world of Formula 1!
Sergey Martyn
29th March 2025, 16:16
Is it a sign of dawn of Marko’s consciousness?
Well, now he looks a bit better than Biden – at least he has a knee-jerk reflex.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
29th March 2025, 23:33
Is the RBR dominance to midfield anything to do with the loss of development time from the fine and winning both titles? If it is, that rule is quietly working