After continuous disappointments and failures for every driver who has taken the role of being Max Verstappen's teammate, the second Red Bull seat is said to be cursed by Formula One fans.
A plethora of drivers have fallen victim to the boot by Helmut Marko such as Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, and now, it’s Liam Lawson's turn. To say that the New Zealander has started the season on the wrong foot would be a huge understatement. Lawson, like every other rookie, struggled immensely in the season opener in Australia but was looking to get back on track in China.
Going into the weekend Red Bull acknowledge that their car was by no means perfect but they made it clear that Lawson needed to step up and show improvement. Lawson then went on the attain plum last in both the sprint shootout and qualifying. On race day Lawson did gain eight positions but he had no points to show for which means nothing to the team. Although Lawson has struggled immensely, the fact that Red Bull are pulling the chute this early is a big issue. Red Bull are notoriously known for rushing rookie drivers into a high pressure situation, and then giving up on them in an instant.
Yuki Tsunoda will be Lawson’s replacement at the Japanese Grand Prix which happens to be Tsunoda’s home race. This decision to replace Lawson raises so many questions for us fans. One being, was Red Bull not 100% confident in their decision with Lawson? If they were wouldn’t they give him more time to prove his worth to the team. Another question is how is this going to affect Tsunoda’s mindset?
Tsunoda had to come to terms with Red Bull when they demonstrated having more faith in Lawson to live up to the standards set for being Sergio Perez’s replacement. Now that Tsunoda is being promoted, how much of their relationship is tainted? If Tsunoda goes on to have a great season and is approached by other teams, is he really going to stay with an organization that bet against him? And by far the biggest question of them all is how is this going to affect Verstappen’s role in Red Bull Racing?
Verstappen publicly addressed to the media that he wasn’t just against the situation with Lawson, but was aggravated by it. With there already being a tense feeling within the team from Newey’s exit as head technical director, to the cars performance trending in the wrong direction, and countless rumors of Verstappen leaving, could this be the perfect storm for the Dutchman to call it quits with Red Bull?