New Zealand driver Liam Lawson said today he was shocked by Red Bull's decision to send him to the junior team in the Formula 1 championship and added that he had not had time to adapt.
"It's definitely a shock, honestly. I didn't expect that. I don't think the conversations we had were going in that direction, so it's something I definitely didn't expect," Lawson told Sky in Tokyo, ahead of the race weekend in Japan.
The New Zealander was brought to Red Bull this season as a replacement for Mexican Série Perez, who was paid off and fired by the team, even though he had a two-year contract.
Due to poor results, he was transferred to Racing Bulls at the end of March, from where Yuki Tsunoda was brought in, who will drive for Red Bull alongside four-time world champion Max Verstappen.
Lawson qualified 18th for the first race in Australia, but did not finish the race due to an accident. In the race in China, he was last in the sprint and race qualifying, finishing 14th and 12th respectively.
Many were surprised by Red Bull's decision to replace Lawson and it was considered to have been done too soon. Asked if he was frustrated that he was not given enough time, Lawson replied in the affirmative.
"I wish I had more time. I mean with more time, especially on tracks I haven't been to... it's been a tough start. We had tough testing, a tough first weekend in Melbourne, and then China and the sprint. I think in the places I've been, with a car that's quite tricky, that would have helped me and I would have liked to have had that opportunity. But obviously, it's not my decision and I'm here to make the best of it," Lawson said.
The decision to hire Lawson was made primarily by team principal Christian Horner and Red Bull special advisor Helmut Marko. Lawson had previously driven in a total of 11 Formula One races.
The New Zealander claims that there is nothing about his driving style that makes the RB21 challenging, but that he simply needed more time to adapt.
"The car is difficult to drive. But we've been going through the adaptation process. For me, it's about time. But as the weekend went on, in Formula 1 in pre-season testing, you drive all day and you have a lot of time to adapt. Honestly, the lack of time in the car for me was the biggest thing that made it difficult to adapt," Lawson said.
Horner took responsibility in a statement to Sky because "too much was asked too soon" of the 23-year-old driver.
"Of course, it's terrible because you're taking away someone's dreams and aspirations, but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind and I think in this case, it's not the end for Liam. I was very clear with him that it was a two-race pattern and told him that we were asking too much of him too soon," Horner said.
He added that the team needs to work on the car to improve it and that they need to take advantage of the experience that Cunoda has.
When asked further about the decision, Horner said he and the engineers were concerned about how the situation had affected Lawson psychologically.
"With everything we saw in Australia and China, you could see it was having a pretty bad effect on Liam. We could have kept him in the team and I think he's talented. Maybe we could have done it halfway through the season, but we just don't have that much time," Horner said.
The Formula 1 championship continues with a race weekend in Japan, with the race scheduled for Sunday at 7 a.m. Central European Time.
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