The “worried” engineers have led a Red Bull pilot exchange

The boss of the Red Bull Formula 1 team, Christian Horner, said that the engineers “concerned” were part of the team’s logic for his brutal exchange of Liam Lawson / Yuki Tsunoda.

Lawson had only 11 Grands Prix before making his senior team debut at the Australian Grand Prix, with two disastrous weekends after this fastest dismissal from Red Bull.

Horner revealed that the concerns of Red Bull engineers were part of his motivation to make a change.

“I think that with everything we saw in Australia and China, we could see that it really affected Liam,” Horner told Sky Sports F1.

“We could have left him, and I think Liam is a pilot with talents. Maybe in half a season, he would have had there, but we just don’t have that time.

“It was something that was very clear for the team engineer side, how Liam was struggling with all this, and you could see this weight on his shoulders.

“The engineers worried me very well, and at the end of the day, I think it was the logical thing to do.”

He also revealed a key error which he had now felt Red Bull: to expect a driver too early who had so little experience before running for the senior team.

“Of course, it’s horrible because you remove someone’s dreams and aspirations, but sometimes you have to be cruel to be nice, and I think that in this case, it’s not the end of Liam,” said Horner.

“I was very clear with him:” It’s a sample of two races. I think we asked too much too early. “

“We must accept, I think, that we ask it too early. And it is therefore for him to feed this talent that we know that in the seat of Racing Bulls, while giving Yuki the opportunity and trying to use the experience he has.”

Lawson did not see him coming

Lawson claims that he has not seen his brutal demotion to come.

“It was definitely a shock, honestly. It was not something I saw coming,” Lawson told Sky.

“The discussions that we also had, I think, were not really leaning in this direction, so it was certainly not something that I expected in a way.”

Although being back in the junior team with less pressure could be considered a positive, Lawson is clear that he “would have liked more time” in the senior team.

“I felt like more time, especially to go to places than 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 been with the way the car was quite delicate, it would have helped and I would have loved this opportunity. But obviously, this is not my decision, so I’m here to make the most of it.”

… Verstappen did not see him coming either

Horner admits that Verstappen “was also surprised at the speed” of the decision even if he was aware of the amount of Lawson struggled by his side.

“(Verstappen) knows where we have to improve the car. He worked very hard with the engineering team,” added Horner.

“We had a very good session with him last week when he is very focused on improving the car, finding these last tenths to really bring us to terms with the McLarens to come.”

One of the main motivators of the exchange was for Red Bull to obtain the comments of Tsunoda to help the team tame the delicate RB21 and not to leave the fights to Verstappen alone.