Christian Horner confirmed Red Bull’s choice of Liam Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda, citing the young driver’s rapid growth and mental strength.
Christian Horner spoke about Red Bull’s decision to promote Liam Lawson alongside Max Verstappen in the team next year. The team principal admitted that the choice between the New Zealander and Yuki Tsunoda was difficult but that Lawson’s potential is regarded as higher.
“I think the feeling within the team is that Liam’s trajectory has greater potential, which is why we chose this path,” said Horner. “But this doesn’t rule out Yuki for the future. The decision was very close, and Yuki impressed the team during his testing in Abu Dhabi.”
“His feedback was good, and if needed, we could rely on him. We have a lot of data, and 11 races is a short timeframe, but if you look closely at Liam’s qualifying performances, the margins to Yuki were very small.”
“And in race pace, he proved, on average, to be superior to Yuki. There’s not much separating them, but considering Liam has only 11 races under his belt and is already performing at this level, his growth potential is significant.”
Horner highlighted the young driver’s adaptability and rapid progression as key factors in the decision: “Two things stood out to me about Liam, including his versatility. You put him in a situation, and he handles it.”
“If you remember his debut at Zandvoort after Daniel [Ricciardo] broke his fingers, he was racing against Max on his lap. He has that kind of fearless mentality. He spent a year in DTM, adapting quickly to driving a Ferrari GT alongside Alex Albon and generally coming out on top.”
In addition to his versatility, Horner praised Lawson’s racing technique, which has been evident since his F1 debut: “His racing sense is truly one of his standout strengths. He’s not afraid to go wheel-to-wheel and even rub tires when necessary.”
“I think he’s going to do a good job for us. The engineers enjoyed working with him during the races he competed in this year. He also has a strong work ethic.”
Sergio Pérez endured a disastrous final season at Red Bull. The pressure of being Verstappen’s teammate has taken its toll on several drivers in the past, but Horner believes Lawson will be different.
“What really stood out about him is his attitude and ability to handle pressure. Most rookies looked like rookies, but Liam didn’t lose the car, didn’t make mistakes, and came across as a seasoned driver. He’s also very agile.”
“He has broad shoulders, which is necessary to handle this seat. Checo, certainly for three out of four years, dealt with this pressure, and Liam has the right character to handle the pressure of being Max’s teammate. The expectations for him are very clear.”
“We don’t expect him to beat Max, who is a generational talent, but the goal is for Liam to be as close as possible and score as many points as he can so that we don’t have a 285-point gap between the two cars.”
Horner emphasized that Red Bull has learned from Pérez’s experience to help Lawson manage the pressure: “I think the key is not to put too much pressure on him or for him to put too much pressure on himself by thinking he’s going up against the best driver of his generation.”
“I think he needs to almost ignore the data from Car 1 and focus on his team of engineers, on what he’s doing, and do the best job he can, and everything will fall into place. And I hope we can support him. I hope we’ll be able to give him a car that suits him as well as it does Max next year, and we’ll see how he progresses.”
Will the RB21 be easier to tame? Will it suit Lawson?
“Hard to say! This will be the first time Adrian [Newey] will have absolutely no influence on the car. It’s up to our team of engineers to take on this challenge. I’m confident they can succeed without him. They have the strength and depth, and we’ll see what the RB21 looks like as it starts to take shape during assembly in late January.”
“The team did an excellent job overcoming some difficulties this year and extracting performance from the car late in the season. Pole position and victory in Qatar, the win in Brazil. We were also very competitive in the sprint race in Brazil. And the sprint win in Austin, even at the start of this final stretch of races. Our F1 is starting to become more manageable.”
And finally, how was Yuki Tsunoda informed of this decision?
“Helmut handled it,” Horner said.
Marko confirmed: “He’s currently in Japan, and I spoke to him on the phone. He took the news relatively calmly. I told him to keep pushing at Racing Bulls, and then we’ll see. He responded positively.”
The Austrian admitted that “in fact, it was a luxury problem; both deserved the promotion.”
“The engineers presented us with similar data, which formed the basis of our decision. But Lawson perhaps has more room for growth in the future. Ultimately, it was his mental strength that tipped the scales.”
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Lawson’s Versatility Seals Red Bull Promotion Lawson’s Versatility Seals Red Bull Promotion Lawson’s Versatility Seals Red Bull Promotion
