Former Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has opened up about the controversial decision surrounding Liam Lawson's early promotion to the senior Formula 1 squad during the 2024 season. In his new autobiography, Drive, Horner detailed his deep concerns over placing the young New Zealander alongside Max Verstappen with merely 11 grand prix starts under his belt.
Lawson was chosen to replace Sergio Perez after a very brief apprenticeship, but his tenure in the main outfit lasted only two races before he was demoted back to Racing Bulls. Horner explained that Helmut Marko was the primary driving force behind the promotion, despite the team principal's own reservations about thrusting such an inexperienced driver into the intense spotlight of the front-running squad.
Horner wrote that while Marko championed the move, he himself felt profoundly uncomfortable with it. He noted that asking a driver with just 11 Formula 1 races to shoulder such immense expectations was a massive gamble, especially amidst internal political games played prior to the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
The experiment unraveled almost immediately on track, with Lawson crashing out of the Australian Grand Prix and subsequently finishing 12th in China. Red Bull acted swiftly by replacing him with Yuki Tsunoda ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, forcing Lawson to rebuild his confidence and career away from the championship contenders.
Reflecting on the turbulent period, Horner maintained that the fundamental error occurred before Lawson even stepped into the cockpit. He concluded that while the subsequent demotion was tough for the driver, the core issue remained that he should never have been promoted to the senior team in the first place.
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