Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko admits Liam Lawson promotion came too soon

Monday, 31 March 2025

Liam Lawson's demotion at Red Bull has sparked strong reactions, with Max Verstappen among the critics. The Kiwi driver now faces a new challenge with the junior team, Visa Cash Racing Bulls.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has conceded Red Bull made a mistake promoting Liam Lawson so quickly.

Marko disputes that Lawson has been demoted, claiming the move will help his career.

Lawson will return to the energy drink manufacturer’s junior team, Racing Bulls, from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards.

Helmut Marko has conceded Red Bull made a mistake in promoting Liam Lawson to partner Max Verstappen so early in his career.

The senior motorsport advisor for Red Bull has compared the 23-year-old Kiwi to Formula 1’s equivalent of a boxer languishing on the ropes following two poor weekends to start the season.

That substandard beginning saw Red Bull announce, on Thursday, the shock switch to swap Lawson back to its junior team, Racing Bulls, with Yuki Tsunoda - who lost out to Lawson in the race to replace Sergio “Checo” Pérez back in December - taking over as Verstappen’s new team-mate from Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Liam Lawson is congratulated by Helmut Marko after his ninth place finish in the US Grand Prix last year.

Just over three months on from Lawson’s promotion, Marko has told BBC Radio 5 Live’s breakfast show that Red Bull had “made a mistake” in their decision making by throwing Lawson into the “the toughest job in world motorsport” with just 11 Grand Prix starts.

He also conceded that reliability and performance issues with the RB21 hadn’t helped Lawson’s cause, such as being ruled out of the third practice at the Australian Grand Prix with a power unit issue when Lawson and the team were struggling to come to grips with the car.

“That naturally affected Liam’s confidence. Unfortunately, things continued in China, which also had a sprint race - so again, only one practice session,” Marko told Motorsport.com.

“And at the same time, we have to acknowledge that the RB21 is difficult to drive. It’s not the fastest car, and the gap in performance just kept growing,” he said.

The roles of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson have been swapped over before the Japanese Grand Prix.

The energy drink manufacturer has been widely condemned for their treatment of Lawson since the Chinese Grand Prix, where reports first surfaced that the under-performing Kiwi was to be replaced, but Marko put a different spin on it, claiming it was more about protecting the Kiwi driver.

“It was a downward spiral that we needed to break in order to give Lawson a future in his career.

“He was simply on the ropes, like a boxer. And when a boxer is on the ropes, you take him out of the ring. But in his case, we have the safety net of our unique opportunity with a second team - so we’re keeping him in Formula 1,” he told Motorsport.com.

Marko disputes that Lawson has been demoted because the Racing Bulls car is competitive and easier to drive than the RB21 and because he remains in F1.

He pointed to Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly, who didn’t’ succeed in the Red Bull programme next to Max Verstappen, but have gone onto remain in F1 with Williams and Alpine.

Reports that Verstappen wanted Lawson to be retained and given more time have also been confirmed by Marko.

“Max argued that the car is very difficult to drive, and that if the car were better, Lawson’s performance would improve as well.

“But we explained to Max that, in order to win the championship, we have to do everything we can to have two cars in the top 10,” Marko said.

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