Christian Horner seemed to defend Red Bull’s ruthless approach to dismiss Liam Lawson, saying that “sometimes you have to be cruel to be nice”.
The director of the Red Bull team also seemed to accept the responsibility of the decision to separate from the company with the New Zealand pilot after only two races, admitting that he and his team “asked too early” from the 23-year-old pilot.
Lawson said he was “ shocked ” by his dismissal, which was announced last Thursday and added that he had not seen the decision to take.
Red Bull said that after having seemed to fight in the RB21 this season, crashing into Australia and ending points in 12th in China, they had chosen to replace it with Yuki Tsunoda as a teammate of Max Verstappen.
“Sometimes you have to be cruel to be nice, and I think that in this case, this is not the end of Liam,” Horner told Sky Sports F1 before the Japanese Grand Prix of this weekend.
He added: “Of course, it’s horrible because you remove someone’s dreams and aspirations.”
The director of the Red Bull team also revealed what he had said to the Kiwi driver according to the Chinese Grand Prix.
“What I was very clear with him is that it is a sample of two races. I think we asked too early, ” said Horner.
“We have to accept, I think we ask for it too much too early. And it is therefore for him to feed this talent that we know that he has, in the headquarters of the Bulls of Race, while giving Yuki the opportunity and seeking to use the experience he has.
While a brutal decision to separate from Lawson with Lawson so early in the season, Horner had explained last Thursday that the decision to act so quickly was made through “Duty of Care by Red Bull to protect and develop Liam”. He added: “We see that after such a difficult start, it is logical to act quickly, so that Liam can gain experience because he continues his career with racing bulls.”
The director of the team has doubled these claims again this week before the Japanese Grand Prix, declaring: “ It is for him to feed again this talent that we know that in the headquarters of Racing Bulls, while giving Yuki the opportunity and seeking to use the experience he has ”, said Horner.
While the results and bad form of Lawson concerned Horner, he revealed that expectations were placed on the young person and how he treated this was a central factor in Red Bull’s decision to separate from him.
He revealed that it was something that became obvious to engineers from the Milton Keynes team.
“It was something that was very clear for the team’s engineer side, how hard Liam had a hard time,” he said.
“You could see this weight on his shoulders. The engineers are very concerned with me, and at the end of the day, I think it was the logical thing to do.
Horner had also suggested that Lawson had struggled with the RB21 at the start of the season.
But Lawson admitted his frustrations at the speed with which the decision came.
“Honestly, yes. Obviously, I would have liked more time, “he said.
“And I felt more time, especially to go to places that I had before … It was a difficult start.
“We had a difficult test. We spent a first rocky weekend in Melbourne with practicality. And then obviously, China was a sprint.
“I think I was going to places that I had already gone with the way the car was quite delicate, I think it would have helped and I would have loved this opportunity.
“But obviously, it’s not my decision, so I’m here to get the most out of it.”
Tsunoda, on the other hand, will replace Lawson as a teammate in Verstappen and offered his point of view on the situation.
“For me, it was brutal last year when they chose Liam instead of me,” added Tsunoda.
“I am sure that Liam understands how fast things change under our structure.
“This is one of the reasons why we succeed, but also why we tend to obtain more tension with these situations.”