Behind Marko’s Decision: Any Regrets About Lawson’s Demotion?
May 7 – Dr Helmut Marko says Red Bull has no regrets about dropping Liam Lawson just two races into the 2025 season.
Lawson’s replacement, the more experienced Yuki Tsunoda, has now been in the sister car alongside Max Verstappen for four races – and team advisor Marko insists he has done enough to secure the seat for the rest of the season.
“Yes,” Marko, 82, told Bild newspaper when asked if he is sure it was the right decision.
When mentioned that Tsunoda’s points haul so far can be counted on one hand, the Austrian continued: “Yes, but he’s much closer to Max than Liam was.
“In only his second race in the Red Bull, he finished in the points. That was a top performance and proof that we did the right thing. When was the last time we had two cars in the points? I don’t remember,” Marko added.
New Zealander Lawson, 23, was demoted to the brand’s junior outfit Racing Bulls, but he has failed to score a single point in either car so far in 2025.
Nonetheless, some might argue that only giving him two races at the senior team was a particularly brutal move by Red Bull.
“Liam couldn’t handle the pressure at Red Bull,” Marko argues. “That’s why it was the right decision to fill the cockpit with someone else.
“We know what we’re doing,” he added. “And we didn’t abandon Liam – he’s still racing in Formula 1 and has one of just 20 cockpits in the whole world.
“He’s been well received there and is performing better again.”
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While they don’t really have a reason to regret the demotion, they should regret not letting him compete the last two seasons in their entirety to maximize experience-gaining opportunities, just like they didn’t bother to maximize Gasly experience-gaining by giving him the 2017 in its entirety (which could’ve had a positive impact on his 2019 Red Bull Racing stint) but instead overlooked him for an already washed-up Kvyat who wasn’t realistically going to improve anyway.
Lawson’s case has some differences, such as that the season amount was doubled compared to Gasly & that they first overlooked him for an outsider (De Vries), followed by an already washed-up Danny Ric, who was unlikely to start performing consistently again.
Of course, he might’ve also found his time at Red Bull Racing easier had he been competing in F1 for two full seasons by the Australian GP rather than 11 GPs.
Instead, he might even struggle to keep his drive at VCARB, given Arvin Lindblad’s likely full-time promotion for next season.
They clearly never learn the importance of maximizing experience-gaining for drivers they might consider for a main team promotion over time.
Exactly too much pressure all around
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