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19 hours ago
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Max Verstappen has intimated he was unhappy with the way his Red Bull team suddenly sacked their driver Liam Lawson after just two races and replaced him with Yuki Tsunoda from sister team Racing Bulls, speaking in the buildup to this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Red Bull dropped Lawson with a shocking speed after he underperformed in his first two races for the team, a bluntly emphatic act even by F1 standards. In the immediate aftermath the former driver Giedo van der Garde described Red Bull’s treatment of the 23-year-old as “closer to bullying or a panic move” and that they “gave Liam two races only to crush his spirit” in a post on Instagram, which was liked by Verstappen.
Speaking at Suzuka the world champion was explicit that he concurred with Van der Garde’s opinion. “Well I liked the comment, the text, so I guess that speaks for itself; it [the like] was not a mistake,” he said.
Verstappen would not elaborate on his opinion but he made it clear with a terse finality that suggested he had stated his position, and apparent displeasure regarding the Lawson decision and the status of their car – which is off the pace and sorely lacking in balance – with the leadership at Red Bull.
“My reaction was shared with the team,” he said. “But in general about not only the swap but about everything. We discussed that during last weekend back at the factory. Everything has been shared with the team, how I think about everything. Sometimes it’s not necessary to always share everything in public.”
Lewis Hamilton noted that he was not surprised at Red Bull’s actions and described dropping Lawson after such a short time as “pretty harsh”.
Red Bull were insistent the decision to switch the two drivers had been agreed across the team management and their Austrian corporate owners, and with the team’s motorsport adviser, Helmut Marko, who oversees the development and deployment of young drivers. It had been an abrupt volte-face after the more experienced Tsunoda had been passed over in favour of Lawson, who had completed 11 F1 races, at the end of last season. Tsunoda described his being snubbed after the decision to get rid of Sergio Pérez as brutally hard.
Marko had spoken extensively this week about the rationale behind the team’s decision, however that there might not quite be such equanimity behind the scenes was further indicated in Japan, when Tsunoda said he found it odd Marko had not contacted him at all since he was promoted.
“Surprisingly, he didn’t call me yet, very unusual,” he said. “Not sure, maybe he was busy with other things. It’s very unusual. From F3, F2, F1, he’s always been calling me. But this is the only time he didn’t. I’m sure there’s not anything from his side. Even in the last few races, we’ve still had a good relationship.”
The 24-year-old, who has driven for Racing Bulls and its predecessor Alpha Tauri since 2021, faces an enormous task to come up to speed at his home race, not least in that the Red Bull is well behind the leading McLarens and an absolute handful to drive, as Lawson discovered. Verstappen admitted in Japan there were a host of issues with it including that it was nervous and unstable.
“We are focusing on making the car more drivable,” he said. “I don’t think we are there yet but we are working on it. Last week we had good meetings in the factory with everyone involved to try and address the things we want to address in the car. Find more balance and of course, at the end, more pace in the car.”
Tsunoda, however, is approaching his Red Bull debut with a cool head and believes he will be given a proper chance to adapt to the new team and car. “I didn’t get any specific races or time that I have to prove myself,” he said. “Pressure will always come once you hit the track. For now, really relaxing somehow, it feels similar to when I was at Racing Bulls, when I enter hospitality I was only thinking about breakfast.
“Christian Horner wants me to be as close to Max as possible and support him in the race. Their main priority is Max, which I understand because he is a four-time world champion.”
